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The rapidity with which the South Vietnamese position collapsed in 1975 was surprising to most American and South Vietnamese observers, and probably to the North Vietnamese and their allies as well. For instance, a memo prepared by the CIA and U.S. Army Intelligence and published on March 5 indicated that the South Vietnam could hold through the current dry season, i.e., at least until 1976.

Once the Americans removed themselves from the battlefield it took less than 2 months for North Vietnam forces to take Saigon.

It seems that Iraqi government troops have about as much, and possibly less staying power than the South Vietnamese did. In a matter of only a couple of weeks the members of Muslim radicals known as, “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) have moved to take a vast amount of territory in not only Iraq, but in Syria, as well. ISIS recognizes no borders in areas where there is little resistance to their aggression.

They are literally moving in on the door to Baghdad, having taken major cities to its north, including Falluja.

Falluja, the city of major battles that were hard-fought and won with American lives fell within days when left to the Iraqi troops to defend.

$17 billion and more than 4400 American lives were lost in what the majority of Americans knew was an effort in futility and another Vietnam. A country can not be saved unless its citizens are willing to fight for it and the tribes that inhabit the western determined borders of those Muslim countries will never see themselves united in a national identity.

Iraqi government forces are on the run. They are abandoning equipment and arms without even first destroying it. That’s American made killing power that will be used by ISIS members elsewhere in the region.

Now, Iraq has made an official request for the United States to provide air attacks.

American officials confirmed on Wednesday that the Iraqi government has explicitly asked the Pentagon to conduct airstrikes against insurgents taking their country by storm, but the United States is reportedly ill-prepared to wage suck attacks.

Intelligence gaps have left the White House uncertain about when or where to strike the militants, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, worsening the likelihood that any aerial attack would prove to be successful.

“We have a request from the Iraqi government for air power,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey told US lawmakers during a Senate hearing early Wednesday.

Dempsey added, however, that the results of a strike would be unknown “until we can clarify this intelligence picture” in Iraq.

“It’s not as easy as looking at an iPhone video of a convoy and then striking it,” the chairman told a Senate appropriations subcommittee, the AP reported.

Confirmation of the request from Baghdad comes less than two days after President Barack Obama announced that 275 US trooped would be deployed to America’s embassy there to protect diplomats in the midst of escalating violence.

In recent day, militants with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Syria group affiliated with Al-Qaeda have escalated a campaign that as of mid-week has led to the capture of two major cities and put Baghdad on high alert.

Following nearly a decade-long war on the heels of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, Pres. Obama last week said that America will not “allow ourselves to be dragged back into a situation” similar to what happened after that campaign.

“The United States is not simply going to involve itself in a military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance that they’re prepared to work together,” he said.

So, if President Obama is true to his word this time, we shouldn’t have to worry about getting involved in Iraq again, because Iraqis won’t ever be able to work together.

Let’s just hope he doesn’t try to turn this into a reason for putting troops in Syria.