Perseus Academic: Iraq, Vietnam, and the Limits of American Power by Robert K. Brigham

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  Foreign Policy Fall 8

Vietnam and Iraq are now linked forever. But a straight comparison between the two wars does injustice to solid history. In this clear-eyed and thought provoking book, Vietnam expert Robert K. Brigham shows how the similarities between Iraq and Vietnam illuminate similar patterns of U.S. foreign policy behavior. The United States, Brigham argues, has turned to a foreign policy of expansion in times of external threat—or heightened threat perceptions—leading to limited Congressional debate and oversight. The results have been devastating. The massive financial hangover will be only one of the Iraq War’s lasting legacies.

The mechanisms are in place for change, but so far the U.S. has done little to alter the course of its foreign relations. It is crucial that we apply the lessons of Vietnam wisely and selectively—in this war and in the future.

Robert K. Brigham is the Shirley Ecker Boskey Professor of History and International Relations at Vassar College. He is author of numerous books and essays on American foreign relations, including Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy written with Robert S. McNamara and James G. Blight.