How is Libya any different from Vietnam?

Elliot: How is Libya any different from Vietnam?
Aside from the obvious, like the fact that Vietnam is nowhere near Libya, the time the war was fought, etc., how is the war in Libya any different from the war in Vietnam? When will we learn our lesson?

Answers and Views:

Answer by chappye7
No Jungles

Answer by Hawkeye
No troops on the ground.

No communist uprising.

No Chinese/Russian support for our enemies.

No jungles.

No Ho Chi Minh.

No insurgent army fighting AGAINST us.

Actually… they are in no way the same.

Answer by Andy
The eyes of the enemies are shaped differently.

We’re there for oil, not to stop communism.

Answer by TruthSeeker
Much different.
Majority of Vietnamese didn’t want us there.
U.S. was supporting the dictators Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and Ngo Dinh Diem. Not a good idea.
Vietnam was (and still is) extremely poor and therefore difficult to communicate to the population.
Various anti-Imperialist groups were wanting to remove the USA (prior to that, the French) at any cost.

Libya will be a cakewalk if we get the army to go against the ‘Brother’ Gadhafi.
No reason for this to take 2-3 years! how about 2-3 weeks.

Answer by WallyZ
In Vietnam, we took the side of the unpopular occupying government (the French), not the rebels. It was also initially a ground war. z

Answer by Gerald Cline
After WW II America adapted a Cold War policy which is still in effect. To avoid a BIG war breaking out it is our policy to slam a lid on the little wars before they grow out of control. You might not like that policy, but you would like the alternative a whole lot less. And if we bury our heads in the sand like we did before WW II what we are going to end up with is WW III. Then it will be to late to say “I told you so….”

Answer by Penfold buy naan bread, crash Hovis, bear
The lesson is already well learned. Oil and arms companies can make a lot of money by crushing and subverting sovereign governments in the third world. The money men have learned to manipulate foolish politicians drunk on power.

Answer by Lily Hilton
Oil.

Answer by iris054
Hawkeye gave you a good bunch of answers. I detest war categorically, and I hope we’re out of this very quickly. This is a multi-national police action to stop Qaddafi from doing genocide on his own people. If there ever was a good cause, it’s to save the innocent. Still, we know that if there were no oil in the Middle East, Libya would go the way of Darfur.

We humans have a lot of spiritual evolving to do.

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Answer by Scott
I’m seriously angry about this, alright. I couldn’t stop thinking about it all day today. I have no idea how long we will be there, but knowing the U.S. record, probably a very long time. Other countries are already starting to condemn us, especially Medvedev in Russia and the Arab League. Its only a matter of time before we start World War III, and they start launching missiles at us like we have with so many other countries. I’m terrified. I live in the New England region. I can’t live like this, afraid that my country will make a wrong move (and they always do) every minute of the day. But there’s nothing I can do except run from it, so that is exactly what I will soon have to do.