Vietnam Syndrome, Good or Bad?

Amy Hoang

Section 1

Week 5

After reading Andrew Priest's article “From Saigon to Baghdad: The Vietnam Syndrome, the Iraq War, and American Foreign Policy,” I realized the Vietnam War is like a huge rock that dropped into a lake that is America, crushing everything in its path at the moment, and creating a ripple effect that impacts contemporary social, economic, military, diplomatic, and political issues. Today, Americans tend to choose to avoid war rather than advocate it, because they fear losing troops and suffering the aftereffects of a pointless, lost war like Vietnam's.

There are two reactions to the Vietnam Syndrome: 1) policymakers have learned some wrong lessons from the war, causing them to be too timid in applying military power around the globe; and 2) it's a good thing because it puts a limit on the excessive American military power. Because of the Vietnam Syndrome, Americans are reluctant to enter war with Iraq, fearing “another Vietnam.”

Question: Has the Vietnam syndrome affected America's foreign policy in a good or bad way? Is it better for us that we are putting less emphasis on military?

Below is a political cartoon comparing the Vietnam War to the War on Terror: