Iraq as Vietnam?

From boortz today:

IRAQ NOTHING LIKE VIETNAM

Alleged "Republican" (in name only) Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska is wringing his hands again. Never really a supporter of George Bush or the war in Iraq, Hagel has been preaching doom and gloom at every turn and to anyone who will listen. As a matter of fact, he sounds just like a Democrat. Let's take a look at his latest proclamations, shall we?

The good senator says the United States is getting bogged down in Iraq, and the more time that passes, the more the conflict starts to resemble the Vietnam war. Chuck also tells us that the whole effort is doomed to failure, complaining: "The longer we stay in Iraq, the more similarities will start to develop, meaning essentially that we are getting more and more bogged down, taking more and more casualties, more and more heated dissension and debate in the United States." Really...does he mean that everybody has to be on board with the war for it to be successful? There are always people protesting any war.

But we'll play along for a minute here and do the comparison with Vietnam. Here's a brief overview of what we know about the war in Iraq so far:

--The war has been going on for 2 1/2 years.
--The government was overthrown, Saddam Hussein is sitting in prison.
--Control was handed over to the new Iraqi government early, elections were held and a new Constitution is being drawn up.
--We won.
--In 2 1/2 years, there have been just under 2,000 casualties...1,861.
--The war is being fought with an all-volunteer force.

Now, for the sake of comparison, and for the benefit of people like Chuck Hagel whose memory is a bit rusty, here are some Vietnam War facts:

--The conflict lasted, depending on how you look at it, 10-20 years.
--The ultimate result was the fall of South Vietnam to the communists.
--We lost.
--There were some 58,000 casualties.
--The war was fought with the presence of a draft.

Yeah...Iraq is just like Vietnam...not. It's interesting how the pro-appeaser defeatists want to throw in the towel just because some Islamic terrorists don't like democracy and the rule of law.