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Compare And Contrast The Cold War And War On Terror

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The Cold War and the War on Terror, two American wars fought in the name of Democracy. These two wars seem to be different, the United States entered them for different reasons and our enemies in these wars were completely different. Yet underlying this there are numerous similarities in these wars. These similarities can analyzed through events and documents from both wars. One of these examples is the massacre at My Lai, Vietnam, which happened on March 16, 1968. Soldiers entered this area believing it housed scores of Vietcong fighters. In reality, there were not any enemy fighter at My Lai and the soldiers ended up killing 500 Vietnamese civilians. Another example was the massacre at Haditha, Iraq, which happened on November 19 2005. A convoy of Marines and supplies hit an Improvised explosive device (IED) leading to the death of one marine. This lead to the killing of 28 Iraqi civilians killed in their own homes. These civilians died because marines thought they were a threat and responsible of the IED. Speeches from American leader can also help look at these wars, one of these is President Johnson (LBJ) Speech called “Why …show more content…
Countless American knew someone that served in Vietnam. These men were there by force, so LBJ gave this noble view of the war to convince Americans believe it was worth it to send young boys to fight and die. The view of public pressure was seen in the reaction to My Lai. Cheyne is not limited in the way Johnson was, since America no longer has a draft. The men Cheyne sends to fight are going voluntarily; therefor the public pressure is less. Most Americans do not know anyone who served in the War on Terror. Americans do not pay attention to what happened in Iraq therefore, there was no one to speak dissent when events like Haditha happen. The draft changed how American leader can talk about the wars and how the country reacts to

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