Tom McLaughlin [05/06/2004]

By Tom McLaughlin

The Vietnam War has been over since 1975, but its still an issue in the presidential campaign, I told the class. Older men who now have powerful positions in our country were young men during that war. President Bush and his opponent, John Kerry are forced to answer questions about what they did back then, so Vietnam is still an issue in the election of 2004, as it was in 1968 and 1972. And, were involved in another war that some Democrats are comparing to Vietnam.Students had been reading their textbooks version of Vietnam, and I was giving them more information from Stanley Karnows Vietnam series broadcast on PBS in the late 1970s. I was also giving them my own opinions on Vietnam. Wed been following the War on Terror since last September in the news.Two Democrat Senators, Kennedy and Byrd, say our war in Iraq is 'Bushs Vietnam,' I told them. Do you see any comparisons? Do you think there are any similarities between the Vietnam War and the Iraq War?After a thoughtful pause, a couple of hands went up. We were trying to stop something from spreading back then and were trying to stop something from spreading now, said a girl.Good point, I said. In Vietnam, it was . . .Communism, she said, on cue.And in Iraq, its . . .Terrorism.Good. Any other similarities?People here disagreed with both wars, said a boy.Another good point, I said. Public opinion in America has been divided in both cases. Anything else?Theres a presidential election going on, said another girl, and there was back then too.Thats right. Anything else?Theyre both guerilla wars, said a boy.Yes, thats right too. Iraq didnt start off as a guerilla war, but its gotten that way lately, I said. Another good point. Anything else?No more hands. I paused for a few more seconds and said, Okay. What are the dissimilarities? In what ways are the two wars different?Not as many people died in Iraq, said a boy.Thats true, I said. Not even close, neither for us nor for our enemies. But its not over yet either. Anything else?The people are different, said a girl. In Vietnam, they lived in the country, but in Iraq, they live in the cities and the fighting is happening there.Excellent point. Anything else?In Iraq, we were taking a government out, said a boy, but in Vietnam, we were defending the government in the south that was already there.Right again, I said. I guess you were paying attention.We were attacked, said a boy. That didnt happen in Vietnam, did it?Good question, I said. No, not directly. At least not here in the United States. Our advisors were attacked sometimes in Vietnam, but some might argue that maybe we shouldnt have been over there. And today, those Americans who disagree with us taking out Saddam Hussein say Iraq had nothing to do with Sept. 11. But other Americans see our efforts in both Afghanistan and in Iraq as a response to those attacks.Anything else?Bush is a Republican and President Johnson was a Democrat, right? suggested another boy.Thats right, I said. He was, but they both come from Texas.The weapons are different too, right? said the boy.Yes, they are, I said. Our weapons systems are much more sophisticated now.We dont have as many soldiers in Iraq either, he said.No. We had over 500,000 soldiers in Vietnam at its height, but only about 120,000 in Iraq now. Thats going to increase by about another 20,000 soon though, according to what I read today.Thats what happened in Vietnam, right?Yes, actually, if you mean that we kept on increasing the number of soldiers over there, I said. But we dont have even half as many as we had in Vietnam yet.We dont have to worry about the Soviet Union getting involved now like we did in Vietnam, said a girl. We had been studying the arms race between America and the Soviets in the context of the Cold War and that we didnt invade North Vietnam because, in part at least, we were worried about setting off a world-wide nuclear conflict.Another excellent point, I said. Being the only superpower, we dont have to worry as much about setting off another world war involving nuclear weapons. But, we do worry now about some of those old Cold War weapons from the former Soviet Union getting in the hands of terrorists.Anything else?There were no more hands.Okay. Lets watch some more of the film. Tom McLaughlin is a teacher who lives in Lovell, Maine. He can be reached at tommclaughlin@pivot.net