I think its interesting to compare the Viet Nam war with the Iraq war. How many times during the Viet Nam war did we hear the spin doctors pronounce that we had "turned the corner" or the enemy was on its last legs, etc. as the war dragged on year, after messy year while we had no real hope of any victory. And we had the same stalwarts that wanted us to continue, so that the lives that had been lost, wouldn't have been lost in vain. I never did get that kind of logic. And during one of the recent debates, McCain actually said "We could have won Viet Nam"....

I see some differences. Our rationale for getting into Viet Nam was a blurry "stop the threat of communism" , the "domino theory", etc. US soldiers were largely draftees that did not want to be in the service at all, unlike our all-volunteer servicemen today.

I think if we look at history today, and had a chance at a do-over, we would not be going into Viet Nam. I expect history might hand us the same lesson on the Iraq invasion.

The link is to an article written four years ago...

http://www.geocities.com/matlock.cvma

Steve, thanks very interesting, VN 68/69, Germany 69/71