Reply #3: Well we could have blown North Vietnam off the map and sent the fight to them [View All]

There were funny rules of engagement over there. We were not allowed to go after the enemy if they went into North Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia. As long as they had those completely safe havens to dart in and out of we could not have won. It was a real war though unlike Iraq. We were engaged with the third largest army in the world at the time and we could have actually had a situation where a real government could have signed a peace treaty and we could have declared victory and yes "won" the war there. Iraq is a completely different matter. We are not engaged against a state. They can't sign a declaration of peace. People want to confuse Iraq and vietnam and there really is no comparrison other than US soldiers are dying. It isn't the same at all.