Are Iraq and Vietnam the same?

I have heard a lot of people saying that Iraq is another Vietnam and will end in the same way as the Vietnam War did. I must disagree for several reasons. The first reason is that China and Russia both supported North Vietnam VC with trainers and weapons but are not doing so to a large extent in Iraq if at all. Vietnam borders China making it relatively easy to supply the VC. The second reason is that the insurgency is not as large in Iraq as it was in Vietnam. The third reason is the terrain.

The Chinese and Russians may support the Insurgence in Iraq but they are not providing the support that they did in Nam. In Nam, Russia could by land or air transport go by way of China to smuggle weapons into Nam without any inference. It is not as easy to smuggle weapons into Iraq at least nothing more than small arms so the insurgence in Iraq are basically fighting with what is already in the combat zone. In my opinion for the US to win in Nam they would have had prevented China and Russia from helping the NVC or would have had to expand the war into China and possibly Russia in order to keep the flow of troops and arms from coming into Nam. The US has fought china twice, both times were due to the fact that China did not want a pro US country on their border. Iraq is not on Chinas border.

The Chinese are not sending combat troops into Iraq to fight the Americans. The rebel fighters are coming from different Arab countries mostly but they are not the combat troops that China sent to fight in Nam or the fighters in Nam that had been fighting the French for 20 years. Some of the insurgence have had prior combat experience but for the most part they are not combat soldiers with the discipline and training that professional soldiers have.

The terrain could not be much different than in Nam and Iraq. In Nam it is jungle with mountains and in Iraq it is mainly flat desert. Hiding in the jungle is much easier than in a flat desert.

Without support from other countries consisting of troops and armament I do not think that the insurgence will be able to put up much of a fight other than car bombs and sniper guerilla warfare tactics. The Iraqi army will take several years to build but as they progress their force strength will continue to strengthen while the insurgence will lose steam and for the most part will die down.

ATS 'search' function is your best friend, especially the ATS Google version.
History Repeating – Vietnam had “free” elections too.
Iraq not living up to Vietnam




seekerof

Originally posted by Seekerof
ATS 'search' function is your best friend, especially the ATS Google version.

History Repeating – Vietnam had “free” elections too.
Iraq not living up to Vietnam




seekerof

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