At least SE Asia wasn't on NATO's doorstep. It was a mess, there were hundreds of thousands of refugees, and it set back American prestige several decades, but at least the direct blowback wasn't running through NATO allies, the lion's share of the world's oil supply wasn't at stake, and Russia was not set to flank NATO from three sides and gain total hegemony over all land-based petroleum supplies to NATO countries.
Heck, the Vietnam debacle even produced a far superior refugee - people who loved the United States, wanted its freedom, and were eager to assimilate. The Boat People and their children/grandchildren are among America's best citizens. That's not the case here, where the Muslim "refugees" are largely Jihadis in mufti.
It's hard to imagine a worse situation than what we currently have shaping up in the Mideast. The mind reels. Are we seriously going to allow Russia to control all the pipelines, not only gas and oil from Russia (they already have Europe by the shorts and have used the "gas" weapon several times) but also the roads and rail delivery systems that rune from the Gulf through Syria to NATO?
Watch Turkey, Russia's ancient enemy. It's hard to imagine that the Turks will watch the Russians arm the Kurds without responding. Turkey is a NATO country. What if there's a war with Turkey? It's hard to imagine that Zero would do anything about it. But then what's left of NATO?
We're looking at not only losing a war that we could easily have won but also the break-up of NATO, the institution that kept the peace for 70 years. Europe could well break up. There could be serious European wars. The stakes in Vietnam were as naught compared to that.
Worse yet, we are ruled by an Administration dedicated to nixing tracking, easy delivery of Canadian tarsands, and propping up a failed Socialist regime in Argentina, so that even if the entire Eurasian landmass collapses into chaos, we wouldn't be in a position to insulate ourselves and recover.
The Democrats are clearly trying to get us killed. And nobody seems to notice.
It's no wonder why treason is one of only 3 crimes defined in the Constitution. The existential threat created by high level treachery is unsurpassed. Libya was driven by personal corruption and resulted in the USA losing its moral authority. Syria was the natural outcome that allowed Russia to assume the mantle of the "good guys".
This Syrian debacle is a very bad turn of events. And it all can be traced back to a number of high level decisions motivated by personal aggrandizement. Putin correctly read the caliber of US leadership in the guise of Hussein, Clinton, Kerry, et al, but more importantly, understood the state of US society that willingly elected & elevated these people.