The only non-trivial similarity I can find between Iran and Vietnam is that we’re stuck in the conflict because leadership doesn’t want to admit they fucked up. The way it started, the way it’s being prosecuted, the politics, even the geography is different.

What if Vietnam isn’t the mold and model for all American imperial adventures, but just another typical example? Why didn’t we learn our lesson in the Mexican American war, or the Spanish American war, or the war of 1812? What books can teach us to avoid another Philippines?

Maybe this is a little contrarian, but the the through line of Vietnam is American myopia. It’s that same myopia that the Vietnam war is more culturally important to the US than the American War is to the Vietnamese. Even the Vietnam memorial is a literal monument to American solipsism. Only the American dead are listed, not the ARVN, not the Hmong, not even the French, Australian, or Canadian allies.

America’s relationship to the Vietnam war is like a dude who can’t get over his ex.