Iraq and Vietnam: A Dangerous Comparison
By Christopher G. Adamo
If Americans hope to avert a future of ongoing chaos and havoc vastly exceeding 9-11, they must reject every erroneous premise of any easy escape from Iraq presently being advanced by liberals in the media and on Capitol Hill. The pursuit of some quick and painless “fix” will do nothing but set the stage for eventual catastrophe.
Worst among the flawed and dangerous liberal arguments for abandoning the terror war is the notion that Iraq has degenerated into “another Vietnam.” This supposition carries with it an underlying suggestion that the American presence there is pointless and must therefore be rectified by simply cutting and running. However, a comparative history of the two conflicts proves unequivocally that, as bad as was the result of America's exit strategy in Southeast Asia, any similar action in Iraq would be an absolute disaster.
Consider the situation as it unfolded during and after the Vietnam War. America, engaged in the Cold War against Soviet expansionism, initially resolved to pursue a policy of “containment,” which necessitated driving back communist insurgents whose goal was to secure the entire Southeast Asian region. Unable to resolutely defeat the armies of Ho Chi Minh and his often vaguely defined accomplices after the loss of more than fifty thousand lives, American leaders decided that they would simply withdraw from the region and leave the anti-communist forces of South Vietnam to fend for themselves. Although the ensuing slaughter was horrific, those on this side of the Pacific Ocean remained chiefly insulated from it, and thus had the luxury of indifference to the tragedy and genocide that followed the American withdrawal.
On a wider scale, other events unfolded in a manner that prevented the United States from ever feeling the full effects of its retreat in the face of communist aggression. Though at the peak of its military buildup and expansionism, the Soviet Empire was nevertheless suffering from the internal decay that would eventually bring it down. The menace of Soviet technological dominance, so ominous in the 1950's, had dissipated barely a decade later when America reached the moon.
Once Soviet leaders recognized that they would never be able to militarily or economically overtake the West, their “house of cards” quickly began to collapse.
Even at the peak of its political dominance, the empty promises of communism were widely regarded with cynicism by the masses that fell under its shadow. While unwilling to publicly oppose or criticize it for fear of reprisal, the vast majority of its subjects held it, and its ideological advocates, in extremely low regard.
So despite an enormous military capability and multinational governing structure, the Soviet threat rapidly imploded under its own weight, and less than two decades after the fall of Saigon, was itself extinguished, along with its widespread puppetry among nations of the Eastern Bloc.
Unfortunately, as a result of the stunning manner in which the nightmarish specter of war with the Soviets seemingly vanished into thin air, too many Americans have accepted the idea that problems of this enormity will always somehow miraculously correct themselves. But such a rosy scenario does not apply to the struggle in which America presently finds itself. The history of militant Islam, measured not in years or decades but in centuries, paints a far different picture.
In contrast to the empty promises of Marxism, which grew stale over the course of only a few decades, Islam has endured for fourteen centuries. Its European incursion alone lasted for three centuries.
Europe's former steadfastness, rooted in its religious institutions, is no longer sufficient to protect it from such an onslaught. Nor can Islamists be expected to undergo a general fatiguing with the ways of violence and social upheaval similar to that which eventually led to the downfall of Marxism. Though the subjects of communism were reluctant to enthusiastically offer themselves as its devotees, such dedication is common in a religion and political ideology that treats martyrdom as its ultimate measure of success.
Unlike the tired and disillusioned pawns of Marxism, this enemy will zealously persevere. It has already waged war in America, and its “fifth column” remains. If left unchecked, its next generation will take up the cause (our eradication), with undiminished fervor.
Despite America's “defeat” by North Vietnam, no one ever feared the possibility of its troops marching into American cities to impose a new order. However, the enemy we now face has every intention of someday doing so.
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