I just never looked at the Vietnam syndrome as a bad thing. I still don't . I'm very proud of being a Vietnam veteran. I'm proud of losing. America had a certain humility after Vietnam. It was hard won. The Smirking Chimp: " The idea was that the loss in Vietnam had soured American policy makers and the public on foreign military actions of any kind. The Bush administration's war-mongering in Afghanistan and Iraq was supposed to drive a stake through that syndrome, by offering an example of successful use of military force in promoting American foreign policy. With Afghanistan quickly returning to its pre-invasion condition of feuding warlords and anarchy (and continuing to prove a hospitable place for Al Qaida-type terrorists), and with Iraq becoming a guerrilla war quagmire that the U.S. has little hope of actually 'winning,' it seems Bush, Rumsfeld and National Security Director Condoleeza Rice are well on their way to reviving the syndrome"