A lot of lessons were learned throughout the Vietnam War but those lessons were not carried out in the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, caused by fears of communism and the fact that since the USA was our allied country we had to join forces, was one of the most disastrous episodes in our past. The lessons learned from the Vietnam War were forgotten when Australia decided to join the United States of America, who were planning the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The American soldiers and the Australian soldiers went through and are still going through some of the same circumstances that happened in the Vietnam War. Some of those circumstances are that the American/Australian soldiers don’t know the terrain as well as the enemies do and the enemies are blending amongst innocent civilians and they plan ‘attack and run/booby traps’ which harm/kill the innocent civilians and the soldiers like the Vietcong did in the Vietnam war. The number of American/Australian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are 1/10.
Some people would say that the USA/Australian forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are completely pointless, ‘Like Vietnam, this war cannot be won’. Some people however disagree. People argue that the reason why our efforts in Vietnam failed where due to the lack of support towards the America/Australian Military defence forces.
In World War 2, the United States were not fighting against Japanese and German soldiers in and attempt to make those countries better places. The goal was to defeat there military forces, destroy their capacity and keep fighting, just as what the North Vietnamese were trying to do to the South Vietnamese. World war ll was a much simpler war than Vietnam. There enemies were easier to identify and the United States felt obligated to use firepower at its disposal and kill innocent people.
The Term Paper on The Lost War Vietnam War
I can still imagine the powerful blasts echoing through my grandfathers mind as he dove for cover in one of our trenches. The year was 1972 and our great nation of Vietnam was at war with the Yankees, the United States. In the end it was a war that we won even though the Americans argue that it was the other way around. The war was not an easy one to win though. Thousands of lives were lost and ...
Suddam Hussein (the fifth president of Iraq), had ‘weapons of mass destruction’. Hussein ordered the Iraqi troops to attack the country of Kuwait. The United States defended Kuwait in the Persian War against Iraq. On March 19th, 2003, the United States attacked Iraq. The United States used national security as an excuse for fighting. Afghanistan had terrorist training camps run by the Taliban government. Also, Hussein supposedly had ‘Mass Weapons of Destruction’.
Due to Australia being allied with the United States, it was Australia’s right to help America out. This is where they all went wrong; it was going to turn into another Vietnam War again. Two countries stepping onto foreign land, fighting against foreign people, who were hard to identify and who were also hard to find. Over time, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, the united states/Australian soldiers are trying to win wars while appearing to help people and are fighting against enemies who are hard to identify against the civilians, just as they did in Vietnam. With such unrealistic goals, it may be impossible to ever declare victory in Iraq and Afghanistan.
