Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam

An interview with Gareth Porter, American historian, investigative journalist, author and policy analyst specializing in U.S. national security policy.

In Perils of Dominance Gareth Porter provides challenges the prevailing explanation that U.S. officials adhered blindly to a Cold War doctrine that loss of Vietnam would cause a "domino effect" leading to communist domination of the area. He says U.S. policy decisions on Vietnam from 1954 to mid-1965 were shaped by an overwhelming imbalance of military power favoring the United States over the Soviet Union and China. He argues the slide into war in Vietnam is relevant to understanding why the United States went to war in Iraq, and why such wars are likely as long as U.S. military power is overwhelmingly dominant in the world.