Review on “Saigon to Baghdad”: From the Vietnam Syndrome to Iraq Syndrome?

Bee Lee

Section 2

Week 5

Review on “Saigon to Baghdad”: From the Vietnam Syndrome to Iraq Syndrome?

       Within this week’s reading, I read Andrew Priest’s article, “From Saigon to Baghdad: The Vietnam Syndrome, the Iraq War and American Foreign Policy.” Priest discusses how the Vietnam War brought historical, economical, and social quagmires. He then later explores and debates whether or not, the war was necessary and how it share similarities to the Iraq War.

       Although I was a bit confused of this article, what astounded me were the facts hidden from the Vietnam War. For instance, “the U.S. spent billions of dollars, used more firepower than the total used in WW II, saw 58,000 of its own men killed and many more injured, and lost a war for the first time in its history” (Priest, 144). Although U.S. lost the war and caused many quagmires, “the American public” discusses how U.S. will not make the same mistake again. However, what is ironic is the fact that many believe the Iraq syndrome will emerge. In this case, the lack of damage done to the U.S. by the Vietnam War will be the same with the Iraq War.

To avoid these quagmires, what are the measures U.S. should take to not repeat the same mistakes?