Applying Lessons from the Vietnam War to the Current War Scenarios in Iraq and Afghanistan - Report Example

Foreign Policy: Applying Lessons from the Vietnam War to the Current War Scenarios in Iraq and Afghanistan The current world has been characterized by wars most of which are internationally planned. Many of these wars have been fought on the basis of pursuing justice intended either to liberate citizens of the attacked country from a tyrannical regime or to restore democracy in a country dominated with dictatorship. An aggressed country can only project successful defense against the aggressor when it has well established policies and principles and most importantly widespread international support. Sincerely, no country can triumphantly attack another without support and accreditation of the international community. Among many countries of the world, the United States of America has been engaging in many wars overseas against countries perceived to breach human rights as per the requirements of the just war. Most of the wars fought by America have ended successfully with ultimate achievement of the preset goals of restoring sanity and order in initially tyrannical dynasties. However, the war fought by America against Vietnam in 1960 through to 1975did not end with much achievement of the intended goals and the outcomes have since been used as benchmark for structuring and accomplishing attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan. The lesson that could be learned from the Vietnam War that involved aggressive attack on the US armies by the presumed militia group made the US to conduct total attack and destruction of any perceived enemy of the US (Hunt 5). The Vietnam War witnessed US resorting to offering defense to the Southern Vietnam to cushion the populace from the possible aggressive attack by the Northern Vietnam rather than confronting and attacking the defiance Northern Vietnam directly. Upon drawing armies from the Southern Vietnam, US forces were tormented to see the Northern Vietnam embarking on attacks against the vulnerable Southern Vietnam civilians. This lesson has seen the US engage in wars of total destruction of Taliban groups in Afghanistan just to ensure that by the time of their departure, the country will be fully secured and no real threat of resurgence wars from the terror groups. This lesson also enabled the US forces to undertake a total demolition of Saddam Hussein’s regime, ending with the final capture and death of Saddam himself. This was a guarantee that the war realized an end to an error of dictatorship and lethal torture of innocent citizens in Saddam’s Iraq (Packer 405). The US forces captured most significant allies of Saddam Hussein just to ensure complete termination and paralysis of any element linked to tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein. Another lesson involved the manner in which the US should call back home its military forces participating in foreign war (New York Times). As with the practice of Richard Nixon characterized by secretive and systematic withdrawals of the US armies from the Vietnam War; Iraqi and Afghanistan Wars have also witnessed similar strategies proposed or already practiced. From the events and procedures used by Richard Nixon in withdrawing US military forces from Vietnam, US security agencies have been able to practice slower military withdrawal from Iraq to ensure total clearance of any potential threats. The slow withdrawal of military forces from foreign war has helped the US to ensure a growing stability in the enemy country and restored psychological confidence of the liberated civilians. It is true that by the end of US attack on Southern Vietnam and general Vietnam War, the US did not initiate measures to organize the local populace to establish a stable government (Thomson). The absence of an established government in Vietnam after the was a major contributor to upsurge of another war after the withdrawal of US troops since there was no stable authority that could protect civilians from the aggressive attacks by the Northern frontiers. The failure to organize a stable and working government led to US failure to achieve its key goal of restoring lasting peace and order in the embattled Vietnam. In the current wars fought in Iraq, the US security forces strived to facilitate the establishment of a stable government, which was left in operation and exercising protection of the local populace. Currently, US foreign policy is set on ensuring formation of stable government in Afghanistan before conducting full withdrawal of its military forces (Dallek 4). Recently, President Barrack Obama announced elaborate strategies to conduct slower withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan but with surety that the local populace obtains a stable government to govern and secure its borders from reprisal attacks (Dallek 5). Going by the seeming dissatisfaction of China and other communist countries with the US participation in the Vietnam War, it has become vivid for the US to engage in international dialogue and consultation before indulging in any war. Abiding by the principles of just war, the US has to establish and persuade other countries concerning the reasons for its attack on any perceived tyrannical regime. Before the US could project war against Saddam Hussein, it consulted with the UN Security Council to ensure global approval of its offensive to be safe from international accusations and restrict any possibility of another country providing military support to Saddam. This procedure helped US forces to exercise total control over the combatants by regulating flow of items across Iraq’s borders to ensure a total paralysis of activities carried by Saddam’s forces (Record and Andrew 11). As with Afghanistan, US forces benefited from international collaboration by restricting movement of weapons within the country into the hands of Taliban terror group. Gaining international support over the operations in Afghanistan assisted the US to monitor Pakistan, which seemed to side with the Taliban in terms of cargo supply. Reflecting back on the Vietnam War, US Defense department has been very cautious to make conclusions without concrete support from all responsible security entities in the global geopolitics. The foreign policies currently implemented by the US are designed to satisfy every side of the political spectrum to alleviate possible differences that emerged among the US armies during the attack on Vietnam. During the inception of war against Saddam Hussein, the entire political lines of US had agreed and validated the procedures and reasons for conducting war thereby ensuring unity among the armies deployed in Iraq, which is a prerequisite for success on the battlefront (Record and Andrew 6). The same principles were applied in organizing Afghanistan war that led to elimination of the Taliban group and the complimentary adversaries of US in Afghanistan. The universal consultation and agreement within internal determiners of war have been fruitful as it gains public support thus the easy funding of the Iraqi and Afghan wars by use of federal taxes. Work cited Hunt, Michael. Lyndon Johnson’s War: Americas Cold War Crusade in Vietnam. Hill and Wag Publishers, 1998. Print. Packer, George. The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publishers, 2005. Print. LaFeber, Walter. The American age: The American age: United States foreign policy at home and abroad since 1750. New York; Norton Publisher, 1994. Print. Thomson, James. How Could Vietnam Happen? An Autopsy. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 201. < http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1968/04/how-could-vietnam-happen-an-autopsy/6462/ > New York Times. What Would Nixon Do? 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. < http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/opinion/sunday/26afghan.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all > Dallek, Barack.The tyranny of metaphor: three historical myths have been leading American presidents into folly for nearly a century. Is Obama wise enough to avoid the same fate? 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. < http://sgsnow.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/dallek.pdf> Record, Jeffery and Terrell Andrew. Iraq and Vietnam: Differences, Similarities, and Insights. 2004. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. < http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/record1.pdf> Read More