Biden says Bush wants to delay chaos

[rodeodance]

Source: Associated Press

Biden says Bush wants to delay chaos

By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer 23 minutes ago

DAVENPORT, Iowa - Democrat Joe Biden charged Tuesday that President Bush's policies in Iraq are designed to confuse voters and ensure that a chaotic end to the war is delayed until after he leaves office.


Biden pointed to the turmoil that accompanied the end of the Vietnam War, with Americans plucked from the roof of the U.S. Embassy as enemy troops poured into Saigon. He said Bush wants to avoid such a stain on the end of his presidency.

"They would not be the ones who would have to deal with the reality of picking people up off the roofs of the embassy," said Biden, a Delaware senator and presidential candidate.

Biden, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Congress will launch hearings on the Iraq war the first week it's back in session. He rejected Bush's assertion that an increase in the number of troops has improved the situation in Iraq.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070829/ap_on_el_pr/biden_iraq_3;_ylt=Ap9FHh3UfuVe2WWHn6u5veMR.3QA

[Bitwit1234]

1. My sentiments exactly

I think he is trying to cause all the havoc he can before he leaves, so he can pass it on to the next president. That way he can cause a republican to be elected in 2012.

[Gregorian]

2. Good for Biden! This should be our mantra.

I've been saying this for at least a year now.

Right on, Biden.

[Amonester]

3. Why can't he say the right word?

Re: "It's long past the time we make Iraq the world's problem, not our own," he said.

IMHO, since the world (well, the big majority of the world) was against it BEFORE the "who-cares-what-they-think" nitwit committed that war crime anyway, Senator Biden should say:

"It's long past the time we make Iraq the world's solution, not our own,"

Again, IMHO, using the word "problem" in that context is not appropriate, but anyway, if it would help find a viable solution AND bring the troops home for good, then of course I'd be all for it, in spite of the word "problem" there.

[ieoeja]

4. Truth 3. Biden 2. Reporter 1.

I agree that Bush probably knows this is not going to work and simply wants to be able to blame the inevitable failure on his successor.

However, the "people" (Biden) plucked off the embassy roof in Saigon were not Americans (reporter). And the enemy was not pouring into Saigon.

Direct US involvement in the Vietnam War ended in '73. We had one military base outside of Saigon when the North Vietnamese finally fought their way to the region in '75. They agreed to a 24 hour ceasefire allowing us to evacuate that base while the US Marines went in to evacuate the embassy and other foreigners, e.g. foreign businessmen. Nothing we haven't done scores of times in dozens of countries, even where US involvement was practically non-existent, but where our guys were in position to evacuate the foreign nationals.

The planned evacuation was completed well ahead of schedule. At that point we began allowing the South Vietnamese to evacuate themselves onto our ships until (1) our ships were full or (2) the ceasefire expired. After each South Vietnamese helicopter arrived with its final load, we pushed it overboard to make room for the next one.

Next time you see the picture of us pushing "our" helicopter overboard, try to find the American flag or writing stenciled on it. You won't find any. The flag is for South Vietnam and the writing is in their language because it was their helicopter, not ours.

[karynnj]

5. Thank you for the clear timeline

The 2 years between when US forces for the most part left and that event are too often ignored. This statement also really plays into Bush's Vietnam analogy. Biden is old enough to remember that time period. His comment that Bush is just delaying the chaos ignores that Iraq is in chaos now. The closer analogy is to the time when - like now - we continued a policy that couldn't work.