When the “war against terrorism” began, many knowledgeable people
 warned that our operations in Afghanistan would turn into another Vietnam.
 In the flush of “victory”,  much of the gloomy projections have been relegated
 to the trash heap.

 However, there are still some interesting comparisons that can be made.

 In the early days of Vietnam, the United States inserted teams of Special Forces,
 to assist in establishing good relations with the locals by helping with village defense,
 health, and education programs. These operations were highly successful in combating
 the influence of the Viet Cong. In the Afghan war, a similar, and, like its predecessor,
 highly successful program is well underway.

 Like Vietnam, we are currently destroying any good will we have with the locals
 by blowing stuff up. The old saying “we had to destroy the village in order to save it”
 is alive and well and making a comeback in Afghanistan.

 However, we have progressed a long way in 35 years. In Vietnam, we would send an
 infantry platoon with Zippos into a village and burn it down. In Afghanistan, the mud
 doesn’t burn, so we use precision-guided ordnance to turn peoples homes into craters.
 The downside of this “improved” system, is that by the time we get around to blowing
 up a house, a wedding party moves in and we blow up a few score party-goers like
 we did at Qalaye Niazi.

 The biggest similarity between the two wars is the Pentagon briefings. The goals
 and objectives are different but the level of lies and deceits have not changed one bit.
 In Vietnam, the goal was to show progress by inflating “body counts”. In our new,
 more compassionate world, we measure progress by how many buildings we blow up
 in a sterile and non-violent manner, with “minimal collateral damage”.In Vietnam
 villages were called Viet Cong strongholds and in Afghanistan they are called Al Qaeda
 compounds. In reality, these are places which were filled with people, who wanted
 nothing more to try to scratch out a life for themselves before we came and destroyed
 everything in their pitiful lives.

 The one area that is glaringly different is how the US press is conducting operations in
 the two wars. In Vietnam, the horrors and violence of war were brought home. We saw
 that people, our soldiers, their soldiers, innocent people, were horribly maimed and killed
 in war. Since Desert Storm, war for our citizens has been converted into some sort of
 sick bloodless video game. Our press today call sitting in a pentagon briefing journalism
 and don’t bother to fact check the lies they are fed by the Administration. The India Times
 has better, more accurate and more complete war coverage than the New York Times.
 This is a sad and pathetic commentary on the health of our Fourth Estate.

 Like Vietnam, one of the reasons we got involved in the first place was to
 prop up a corrupt and inept government, which we installed. In Afghanistan, we
 have installed a government, but it remains to be seen just how corrupt and
 inept it will be. Early signs, despite what is reported in the US media, are not
 particularly encouraging.

 In Vietnam, the primary reason for our presence was to stop Communism.
 In Afghanistan, we have traded the bogyman of Communism for terrorism.
 Both were and are vile and, if you will, evil. However, neither will be defeated
 by military intervention. Economic stability, justice and self-determination are
 the keys to defeating both of those enemies.

 In both Vietnam and Afghanistan, the more compelling, and less acknowledged,
 reason for intervention appears to be US business interests. In the 60’s it was
 rubber and oil. Now it’s just oil and not even really oil, just a place to put a
 pipeline that the Ruskies don’t control. We seem to have an annoying habit of
 trading red blood for black gold.

 So in the end, there are quite a few similarities. We can still avoid the bloodbath
 of Vietnam. There is no reason for our military to continue the bloodletting.
 With luck and some thought, perhaps we can avoid the need to put another
 black wall on our national mall. We shall see.
 
 Write to David Friedrich