I found 22 ways the wars are dissimilar and 15 ways that they are similar. (A long post but a quick read.)

NO. Iraq is not like Vietnam.

1. What US leaders got us into the war?
a. Vietnam- Democratic Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Did you say Republican President Nixon? Liberal revisionist history has painted this war as Nixon's war.
b. Iraq- Republican President George W. Bush.

2. How did the war start?
a. Vietnam- The US slowly increased their military presence in South Vietnam during the Cold War in order to stop the spread of communism. Democratic President Lyndon Johnson fabricated the Gulf of Tonkin incident to justify a full-scale war.
b. Iraq- Islamofascists slowly increased worldwide terrorist attacks against the US and other western governments. After 9/11 President Bush justified a full-scale war based on Iraqi support of al-Qaeda and Iraqi possession and historic use of weapons of mass destruction.

3. Who ended the war?
a. Vietnam- Republican President Richard Nixon authorized peace talks and withdrew US forces in 1973 with a promise to the South Vietnamese government to provide financial and military equipment if North Vietnam attacked again. North Vietnam attacked again in 1975 and the US Congress refused to send the support. This doomed our South Vietnamese ally.
b. Iraq- Unknown at this time

4. Goal of US involvement.
a. Vietnam- To contain communism. Failed.
b. Iraq- Regime change. Succeeded.

5. Enemy goals.
a. Vietnam-The communists wanted the reunification of Vietnam a communist dictatorship.
b. Iraq- Terrorists want to kill Americans and other westerners while spreading Islamofascism. (If their goal were for the Americans to leave, they would just simply have to stop attacking. The Americans would assume that the country was secure and depart)

6. Was there a traditional military victory?
a. Vietnam- No. Political (not strategic) decision was made not to conduct a ground attack and occupation of North Vietnam.
b. Iraq- Yes. The US occupied Iraq in a historically successful military victory.

7. Did we kill or capture the enemy's murderous dictator?
a. Vietnam- No. Ho Chi Minh died a natural death in 1969.
b. Iraq- Yes. Saddam Hussein, who promised to fight to the death and encouraged (death threats) his subordinates to do the same, surrendered as he was found cowering in a hole in the ground.

8. Bombing campaign

a. Vietnam-Conducted carpet-bombing of South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and Cambodia resulting in indiscriminate collateral damage of public life support infrastructure, buildings, homes, and croplands, causing widespread civilian death.
b. Iraq- Precision bombing minimized collateral damage and civilian deaths.

9. What happened after the bombing campaign?
a. Vietnam- The US departed the country.
b. Iraq- The US rebuilt the country.

10. US KIAs.
a. Vietnam- 5,000/yr
b. Iraq- <1,000/yr.

11. Performance of National Guard soldiers.
a. Vietnam-The Guard had a reputation of poor performance. It was the purported refuge for slackers, rich kids and draft dodgers.
b. Iraq- The Guard is performing with distinction and honor.

12. Composition of US military forces.
a. Vietnam- Despite liberal revisionists' history, only 25-33% of the soldiers in Vietnam were draftees. That means it was about a 70% volunteer force.
b. Iraq. 100% volunteer force.

13. Type of war fought.
a. Vietnam-This was an initial war against insurgent forces that grew into a conventional war.
b. Iraq-This was an initial war against conventional forces that grew into a war against insurgents.

14. Insurgency support.
a. Vietnam- Insurgents used intimidation to garner widespread popular support from a homogenous (mostly Vietnamese) population.
b. Iraq- Insurgents have narrow popular support from a divisive (Shi'a, Kurd, Sunni) population and are becoming less easily intimidated.

15. Superpower backing.
a. Vietnam-The North Vietnamese were supported with men, money, equipment, ammunition, and training from China and the Soviet Union.
b. Iraq-The terrorists do not have the backing of any major countries. Just Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Iran.

16. Behavior of former presidents during the war.
a. Vietnam- Former Presidents Truman (d 1972) and Eisenhower (d 1969) maintained the dignity of former presidents and did not speak out publicly against their successors and the war.
b. Iraq- Both former democratic Presidents Carter and Clinton have cast aside all the dignity of the office of the president and broken the unspoken rule about not publicly speaking out against their successors and the conduct of the war.

17. Behavior of the media.
a. Vietnam- The old, liberal mainstream media made up of network television, large city newspapers, and weekly newsmagazines wrote one-sided versions of the war and fully supported the liberal protesters.
b. Iraq- The new media, made up of talk radio, cable television and the Internet, counter the old media and have given Americans another side of the story. This includes the make up of the protester organizations (socialists, communists, useful idiots, anarchists), and their goals (appeasement, cowardice, hate America first)

18. Type of government the US helped to install.
a. Vietnam- During the war years the US helped to install a series of illegitimate South Vietnamese leaders.
b. Iraq- After the end of the conventional war the US helped to install legitimately elected democratic leaders.

19. Historic perspective of the war.
a. Vietnam- Vietnam was a battle fought between western powers and communism during the Cold War (World War III)
b. Iraq- Iraq is a battle fought between western powers and Islamofascism during the larger war against militant Islam (World War IV)

20. Results of the Cut and Run Diplomacy.
a. Vietnam-A premature withdrawal in Vietnam resulted in communist instituted mass murder, torture, and re-education camps. The situation was so horrendous that thousands of Vietnamese desperately tried to leave the country in unseaworthy boats (The Boat People). Preferring their chances of drowning, starvation, shark attacks and pirates to encounters with communists.
b. Iraq- Unknown. Will probably lead to a bloody, religious civil war between Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis, and the establishment of a worldwide headquarters for al-Qaeda in Iraq.

21. Local legacy of cut and run diplomacy.
a. Vietnam- Totalitarian government. No democratic elections 40 years after war began.
b. Iraq- Democratic elections less than 3 years after the start of the war.

22. Worldwide legacy of cut and run diplomacy.
a. Vietnam- Emboldened communist revolutions in Southeast Asia, central Africa, and Central America during the 1970s. Established a cut and run trend for American forces (Beirut 1983, Somalia 1993).
b. Iraq- Unknown. Will probably embolden an Islamofascist global jihad.

YES. Iraq is just like Vietnam.

1. The US continues its history of trying to export freedom.
a. Vietnam- War causes liberals to reveal their prejudice. They do not believe that giving Asians democracy and liberty is worth American lives.
b. Iraq- War causes liberals to reveal their prejudice. They do not believe that giving Muslims democracy and liberty is worth American lives.

2. War against totalitarianism.
a. Vietnam- US fought to contain the worldwide spread of communist totalitarianism.
b. Iraq- US fight to contain the worldwide spread of Islamofascist totalitarianism.

3. Enemy strategy.
a. Vietnam-The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong cannot defeat the US forces. They hang on until the liberal media in the US influence public opinion and cause the withdrawal of military forces so they can take over.
b. Iraq-The terrorists cannot defeat the US forces. They hang on until the liberal media in the US influence public opinion and cause the withdrawal of military forces so they can take over.

4. International Borders.
a. Vietnam- The North Vietnamese military ignores international borders and uses Laos and Cambodia as a semi-safe haven to attack South Vietnam
b. Iraq- Terrorists are crossing international borders into Iraq from Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

5. Training allied armies.
a. Vietnam- Despite liberal media and historians painting the South Vietnamese army as incompetent, they were trained into an effective fighting force by 1973.
b. Iraq- Iraqi army and security forces are quickly becoming a stable and competent fighting force.

6. War crimes.
a. Vietnam- North Vietnamese soldiers and civilians routinely torture prisoners. The Viet Cong routinely murder civilians. American war crimes are few and far between. Despite all of this, the liberal media and historians ignore the major crimes and focus all of their effort on condemning, humiliating, and discrediting the Americans soldier.
b. Iraq- Terrorists routinely murder civilians and behead prisoners. American war crimes are few and far between. Despite all of this, the liberal media and historians ignore the major crimes and focus all of their effort on condemning, humiliating, and discrediting the American soldier.

7. Liberal Protesters.
a. Vietnam- Performed as useful idiots for the communist but no real effect on the outcome of the war. Most protest ended in 1971. US involvement lasted until 1973.
b. Iraq- Performed as useful idiots for the terrorists, but have had no real effect on the outcome of the war

8. Protesters and the soldiers.
a. Vietnam- Protesters hate the soldiers because they remind them of their own cowardice
b. Iraq- Protesters hate the soldiers because they remind them of their own cowardice.

9. Liberal Protesters' principles.
a. Vietnam- None. Protest by liberal college students was sporadic and unorganized during the first part of the war. They had their deferments and the draft did not affect them. Widespread protest began around 1969 when the draft lottery was instituted and the liberals lost their college deferments. They suddenly became organized protesters.
b. Iraq- None. Liberal protesters claimed to be anti-war but they are mainly anti-American. At the start of the war they offered to become human shields for Saddam to discourage US bombing. In late 2003 when the terrorists started using roadside bombs, no protesters offered to go to Iraq and act as human shields for the American soldiers to discourage that type of bombing.

10. Mainstream Media and Hollywood.
a. Vietnam- Against the war, demoralizing the troops, empowering the enemy
b. Iraq- Against the war, demoralizing the troops, empowering the enemy

11. Sunshine Patriots.
a. Vietnam- Unprincipled liberal and moderate politicians initially support the war. When public opinion sours, they drop their support and start protesting, thinking ahead to the next election.
b. Iraq- Unprincipled liberal and moderate politicians initially support the war. When public opinion sours, they drop their support and start protesting, thinking ahead to the next election.

12. Liberal politicians' strategy.
a. Vietnam-The democrats believe that a pacifist approach and an American defeat in Vietnam will be helpful for the 1972 presidential election. First they try to run a racist Governor George Wallace of Alabama who is shot during the primaries. Then they run an ultra liberal Senator George McGovern of South Dakota who loses to President Nixon 49 states to 1 (Massachusetts).
b. Iraq-The democrats have declared the war as unnecessary and illegitimate. The more American soldiers who die the better. That is why they keep an up to the minute headcount and turn milestone deaths into slogans. They want the US to cut and run. Preferably before the 2006 elections, and definitely before the 2008 presidential elections.

13. Returning Veterans.
a. Vietnam- Liberal media and historians paint them as maladjusted, homeless drug addicts despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of well adjusted contributors to society
b. Iraq- Liberal media paint them as maladjusted, angry and betrayed veterans despite their record reenlistment rates.

14. The French Connection (This website is a proud supporter of French bashing).
a. Vietnam- Southeast Asian communist leaders from several countries were educated largely in French schools.
b. Iraq- France sold arms and intel to Iraq right up until the start of the war. French opposition to the war was not based on principle. It was based on French fear that their military aide to Iraq and their part in the United Nations' oil-for-food scandal would be exposed after the US victory.

15. Liberal Prejudice
a. Vietnam-Liberals do not think giving Asians democracy is worth the price of American lives. Asians are not worthy of democracy.
b. Iraq- Liberals do not think giving Arabs democracy is worth the price of American lives. Arabs are not worthy of democracy.