If Iraq is like Vietnam, could Iran become like Cambodia?

[LynneSin]

What worries me is now that the Bush regime is NOT going to get their Iranian War that instead we'll do the same kind of 'behind the scenes' bombing that will have no checks by our congress and no notice to the public.

This administration has already mocked our Constitution - could they be so bold to go into Iran without our knowledge?

[seemslikeadream]

1. what makes you think

they haven't done so already?

edit for a :shrug:

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. I thought I read they had.

[mike_c]

2. one minor difference-- Iran can fight back....

eom

[BeliQueen]

3. I think Iran is safe

As long as they have the threat of a nu-qular weapon under their belts, I don't think they'll be touched.

Best defense is a good nuke threat...or something like that.

[azurnoir]

5. No risk for Iran

Lots of risk for Kurdistan.

[Taverner]

6. And what if a regime even more oppressive moves in?

...just like Kampuchea...

[Poll_Blind]

7. Good analogy, really, if Iraq is to be compared to Vietnam.

I'm not entirely comfortable with the comparison past the fact that they are two "military quagmires of dubious necessity." Having said that though, the Iran/Cambodia extension is fairly reasonable, IMO. Seymour Hersh, IIRC, has written on a number of occasions that the U.S. has carried out small military operations inside Iran.

I don't believe that any covert bombing that would take place in Iran would be as concealable as the bombing in Cambodia. At the time and given the remote location, the bombing in Cambodia was something which was not easy for Americans (or the rest of the world) to learn about. However, a similar level of agression against Iran, covertly, is not technically possible in the Information/Media Age.

Less-flashy (as compared to troops on the ground) and more persistent are our efforts to foment dissent against the Iranian government. I'm sure there are Buck Turgidsons in the U.S. Government who would love to install another Shah.

PB

[radfringe]

8. syria most likely to be cambodia

[HereSince1628]

9. IMO VN and Iraq are really only similar because sunk-cost effect

drives the decision making. And the only reason we are stuck in a quagmire in both is because political leaders can't face the humiliation of saying it was a mistake.

So good money will chase bad money and more lives will be lost while the politicians seek to redefine "victory" in terms that allow quitting illuminated by the rosey spot light of "peace with honor."

The conflicts are quite different, as is the nature of geography

The only reason we were "stuck" in either

[Nederland]

10. Iraq is nothing like Vietnam

Vietnam was basically a place were the fighting stopped as soon as the US left. The North basically won the civil war years before US forces left, and all that was need for the country to unify itself was for us to get out of the way and let events take their natural course. With Iraq, the Sunni-Shiite fighting will only begin in earnest after we've left. Of course, that seems to be what the Iraqi people want, so I say let them have their little war without our boys sitting around caught in the crossfire...