Iraq isn’t like Vietnam - it’s much worse

photo credit: debaird

Forget all the talk about Iraq being as bad as the Vietnam War because its far worse.

The US was able to walk away from Vietnam with relative impunity because Vietnam was essentially a peripheral country. Iraq, by contrast, is a key factor, in global oil supplies, so an American withdrawal would be a devastating blow to US power, calling into question its ability to protect allies in the region. In Vietnam, US withdrawal was feasible because there was an effective government in the north ready to take over in the south.

Nothing like that exists in Iraq where almost a third of the population, according to Oxfam, is in need of emergency relief. And whereas the feared domino effect never materialised in Southeast Asia after the US left Vietnam, the knock-on consequences of the Iraqi debacle are already apparent.

Surrounding states such as Iran and Turkey are being irresistibly drawn into the conflict, threatening to unleash a regional war. Vietnam was a walk in the park compared to the incendiary situation wrought by liberal interventionism in Iraq.

What you can do

Join or donate to Stop the War Coalition.

The aim of the Coalition is simple: to stop the war currently declared by the United States and its allies against ‘terrorism’. They condemn the attacks on New York and feel the greatest compassion for those who lost their life on 11th September 2001. But any war will simply add to the numbers of innocent dead, cause untold suffering, political and economic instability on a global scale, increase racism and result in attacks on civil liberties.