ABSTRACT
The American war in Iraq and the American war in Vietnam have disturbing similarities. In the 1970s the schisms provoked by the war in Asia led to what was labelled a ‘Vietnam syndrome’: a revulsion against colonial peacekeeping, nation-building, and costly and socially divisive military conflict in distant outposts not directly related to American security. That syndrome faded during the shock waves triggered by the terrorist attacks on American soil in 2001. But the subsequent American invasion of Iraq, the high human and financial toll it continues to take nearly four years later, and the public controversy over the justification for the war have eroded domestic support for similar future military interventions. This sentiment, translated into policy by future administrations, will have a profound impact on both the methods and the goals of American foreign policy, as well as on the cohesion of America’s alliances.
