Kenneth J. Campbell - Tale of Two Quagmires: Iraq, Vietnam, and the Hard Lessons of War

Advance praise for A Tale of Two Quagmires

The plethora of best-selling new books on the Iraq War today merely catalogues the tactical errors and leaves the false impression that had the war been fought differently, victory would have been achieved and U.S. interests advanced. Campbells lucidly written comparison of the wars in Vietnam and Iraq shows how costly this illusion is, a deception consciously fostered by American leaders and cheerleading members of the Fourth Estate.

Lieutenant General William E. Odom (U.S. Army, retired),
senior fellow with the Hudson Institute and former director of the National Security Agency during the Reagan Administration

Campbell cuts through the rhetoric and obfuscation that passes for debate over Vietnam and Iraq, offering in their place measured, thoughtful, clear-sighted analysis. Anyone who wants to understand two of the greatest debacles of my generation, how they relate to each other, and what we might do to avoid future such failures needs to read this book.

W. D. Ehrhart,
author of Vietnam Perkasie: A Combat Marine Memoir

A Tale of Two Quagmires is a passionate and thoughtful analysis of the old war in Vietnam and the new one in Iraq. Kenneth Campbell understands war as a veteran and as an historian. The book is an invaluable aid to understanding the past and the present.

Marilyn B. Young,
New York University, author of The Vietnam Wars, 1945-1990

A Tale of Two Quagmires is a concise, cogent, meticulously researched examination of how the American public was deliberately misled into ruinous military adventures in Vietnam and Iraq and of the crucial lessons that must be acknowledged in order to avoid such debacles in the future. Once a young, battle-hardened Marine determined to survive his time in a war of dubious necessity, now a highly regarded scholar of international affairs, Professor Ken Campbell offers a reasoned alternative to this cycle of deception and quagmire. In doing so he does not entirely reject the necessity of wars: only those without legitimate purpose and clear-cut strategy. The wisdom contained in A Tale of Two Quagmires has the potential to put the United States on a road to recapturing the moral high ground in international relations and, in the process, spare humanity the horrific consequences of such senseless and protracted conflictsa gift beyond value to future generations.

Michael Archer,
author of A Patch of Ground: Khe Sanh Remembered

Informed by the hard lessons of first-hand experience and a lifetime of reflection, Ken Campbell offers a compelling and heart-wrenching story of America at war. Whether liberal or conservative, hawkish or dovish, thoughtful citizens must confront the questions Campbell bravely raises. Americas aspirations as a moral nation depend on voices like Ken Campbellsvoices that challenge conventional wisdom, generate debate, and put into motion the forces of self-correction that keep us true to the best of our values and traditions.

Joel H. Rosenthal,
president, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs

A TALE OF TWO QUAGMIRES

The Invasion of Grenada

I didnt want a monument, not even one as sober as that vast black wall of broken lives.

I didnt want a postage stamp.

I didnt want a road beside the Delaware River with a sign proclaiming:

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway.

What I wanted was a simple recognition of the limits of our power as a nation to inflict our will on others.

What I wanted was an understanding that the world is neither black-and-white nor ours.

What I wanted

was an end to monuments.

W. D. Ehrhart

A TALE OF TWO QUAGMIRES

IRAQ, VIETNAM, AND THE HARD LESSONS OF WAR

Kenneth J. Campbell

University of Delaware

FOREWORD BY RICHARD FALK

The Invasion of Grenada is reprinted from Carrying the Darkness: The Poetry of the Vietnam War, W. D. Ehrhart, ed. (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 1989). Reprinted by permission of the author.

First published 2007 by Paradigm Publishers

Published 2016 by Routledge

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A tale of two quagmires : Iraq, Vietnam, and the hard lessons of war / Kenneth J. Campbell.

p. cm.(International studies intensives)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-59451-351-0 (hc)

ISBN-10: 1-59451-351-1 (hc)

ISBN-13: 978-1-59451-352-7 (pb)

ISBN-10: 1-59451-352-X (pb)

1. Iraq War, 2003- 2. Vietnam War, 1961-1975. I. Campbell, Kenneth J.

DS79.76.A875 2007

956.70443dc22

2006037219

ISBN 13 : 978-1-59451-351-0 (hbk)

ISBN 13 : 978-1-59451-352-7 (pbk)

Designed and Typeset by Straight Creek Bookmakers.

CONTENTS

Almost thirty-five years ago three young Americans recently returned from the killing fields of Vietnam told their stories of the war in the living room of my Princeton home. They repeatedly broke down and cried as they recounted their truly rending war experiences, especially their own role in the violence then being unleashed against Vietnamese civilians. They were appalled by the part that they had willingly played just months earlier, and angered by the lies they heard elected Washington leaders telling the American people about how well the war was going since their return home. They had become determined to speak out, partly as patriots of conscience, partly in atonement for what they had done as soldiers. They became activists in the very influential movement of antiVietnam War veterans that did a great deal to bring this ugly chapter in U.S. history to an end. It was one of the most moving evenings I have ever spent because of such powerful and authentic testimony, a blending of pain and truthfulness. One of these young men was Kenneth Campbell, author of this book. We have remained in contact ever since, and the inspirational trajectory of his subsequent development has reached a point of culmination, at least for now, in the pages that follow.

It is a matter of vital national and human concern, not idle curiosity, why so few soldiers reacted to Vietnam in a similar manner. After all, Ken Campbell went to Vietnam as a typical U.S. patriot eager to support a war effort that he believed at the time to be a necessary part of the struggle against an expansionist world communist movement being orchestrated by Moscow. He was not then, nor did he ever become, alienated from the American mainstream. In this book he reserves equally harsh comments for the viewpoints he associates with the extremes of left and right. Campbells anger against the Vietnam War has not abated over the decades, and he is newly disillusioned about the U.S. political process, yet more convinced than ever that what this country needs desperately is elected leaders and appointed officials who believe that the American people are always entitled to know the truth and who do not stumble or rush into wars that are not in every sense of the word