Donald Rumsfeld said in 2003 the war in Iraq is not the Vietnam War, "It's a different time, it's a different era, it's a different place."-á Rumsfeld has publicly maintained and reiterated this view even as recent events unfolded in Iraq.-á
To be frank about it, I have met drug addicts with less denial.-á
In Vietnam, booby-traps became the weapon of choice for Viet-Cong guerillas operating in South Vietnam. The booby-traps varied from grenades rigged to doors that killed and dismembered service men to punji traps dug in the jungle floor, resulting in maiming and painful deaths.-á
In Iraq, service men are facing Improvised Explosive Devices which are killing and wounding entire fire teams and squads of troops. These IEDs have accounted of one third of the deaths in Iraq.-á
In both cases, an unseen enemy with steadily increasing ingenuity has been killing troops nearly indiscriminately.
Vietnam veterans were on a one year rotation in an attempt to limit the fatigue that affects large military units.-áThis fragmented unit cohesion and soldier proficiency in the field.-á
Other veterans volunteered for multiple tours in Vietnam, claiming "The Vietnam War is where I belong." Returning veterans were affected with post traumatic stress disorder.-á
Symptoms of PTSD consist of intrusion - re-experiencing traumatic events, hyperarousal, avoidance, and dissociation.-áThese symptoms negatively affected the American opinion of Vietnam veterans and made a significant part of an American generation outcasts.-á
The Veterans Administration estimates that 18 percent of troops returning from Iraq will have PTSD from situations involving nearly loosing their lives, watching their friends get killed, and having had to take the lives of others.
Many veterans returning from Iraq will say, "I miss Iraq" which results in troops volunteering for multiple tours. The VA predicts the percentage of troops with PTSD will rise if individual soldiers are deployed multiple times.
Many veterans, both active duty and those that have completed their terms of service, are ashamed to reveal symptoms of PTSD for fear of becoming ostracized in the masculine military machine. Suffers of PTSD are not limited to young enlisted men who typically have no more than a high school diploma, a Marine captain, commissioned officers have college degrees, claimed to have a recurrent nightmare but was afraid to disclose it for fear of loosing face to his command and troops.-áIn both cases, and in all cases of men at war, the mental well being of veterans is in jeopardy and the feeling of social acceptance of their condition can be daunting.
One of the corporations to take advantage of the Vietnam War was the Dow Chemical company. Dow became the sole producer of napalm, to the armed forces.-áNapalm, widely used in Vietnam, caused horrific deaths, maiming, and mutilations.-áDow also produced Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant, which has allegedly produced birth defects to the current day.-á
Currently, Haliburton is providing logistical support to troops in Iraq at a tremendous cost to American taxpayers. A recent study - watch "Iraq for Sale" - found that Haliburton and other corporations are providing substandard services, risking their civilian employees unnecessarily, and committing fraud costing taxpayers unknown amounts of money.-áIn both cases, there is a corporation reaping the profits from thousands of deaths in a far off land.
Recently, a Washington think tank proposed to divide Iraq into three separate sections. Vietnam was divided into I, II, III, and IV Corps, which did not work as planned.-á
Rumsfeld, how many more direct parallels do we need?-á
Do we need 58,000 American deaths to compare this war to the Vietnam War? When we reach that number, do we need the 418,000 deaths for comparison to World War II?-á
This is not a sick game where the generation with the highest score wins, these are human lives.
Jason Hodson is a senior mathematics major and writes 'Towards Disrespectful Authority' for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write to Jason at jlhodson@bsu.edu.
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