Why did American decision-makers confuse nationalism and communism in Vietnam and try to superimpose a European Cold War model on Southeast Asia? What was the reason for taking the US military halfway around the world and involving them in an unwinnable war for 10 years? It seems almost a cliché, but it seems that American policymakers could not see beyond 1917 and the Russian Revolution. The proud people of what we now call Vietnam have been struggling for many centuries to free themselves from the yoke of foreign domination. It didn't matter to them whether they were Chinese from Asia or French settlers from Europe, they preferred to rule their own country. The four Allied powers of World War II couldn't seem to leave anything alone after the war and spent their time slicing and dicing countries like pieces of pie. Berlin, Germany, Korea and Vietnam all received the same treatment. The Cold War demanded borders, even if they were impractical. And as Ho Chi Minh courted the Russians as well as the Americans for their military equipment, we saw the specter of communism around the corner. As if that wasn't enough, along comes "Tailgunner Joe" McCarthy, throwing smoke and mirrors at the Communists in the State Department. Politicians, while seeking to hide, were only too willing to not challenge the communist bugaboo in Vietnam. So, even though it had been agreed that there would be free elections in Vietnam, the United States could not simply walk away and allow Ho Chi Minh to take control of the South. During the Occupation Vietnam during World War II, Ho Chi Minh was ready to do anything to obtain the necessary war materials. He established a codependent relationship ...... middle of paper ...... Baghdad hotels and broadcast the aerial bombardment live and in color. And the technology of satellite phones, tape recorders, and home video cameras was sold in postal exchanges across the country and their production was quickly transmitted to the United States. So when every soldier has a camera, a cell phone, and a grudge, his or her point of view can be broadcast very instantly around the world on the World Wide Web. The more predominant this counterview became, the more difficult it was for the political establishment to control the public's perception of the war. So we returned to the American public's perception of the Iraq War along the same path as that of Vietnam. As has been said many times, “it was the wrong war, at the wrong time, for the wrong reason, in the wrong place.” ". We should have been somewhere else.