Granted there is metaphor in the construction of the B5 story, but it's
not point-for-point in any linear fashion. The coming conflagration will look
a hell of a lot more like a cross between WW II and the breaking of the seals
in "Revelations" than Vietnam. (Probably the Earth/Minbari War could be made
the closest approximation of Vietnam; "peace with honor" and all that.) The
point of metaphor, I think, is not to draw a straight parallel, but to tilt
the mirror a bit, shift the focus and see how this change of perspective
illuminates reality.

jms