Kissinger finds parallels to Vietnam in Iraq

[guruoo]

Kissinger finds parallels to Vietnam in Iraq
Former diplomat cites 'divisions in the United States'

Monday, August 15, 2005; Posted: 4:51 a.m. EDT (08:51 GMT)


Kissinger said the United States is battling to stop the spread of radical Islam.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An architect of the U.S. war in Vietnam more than 30 years ago said Sunday that he has "a very uneasy feeling" that some of the same factors that damaged support for the conflict there are re-emerging in the 2-year-old war in Iraq.

"For me, the tragedy of Vietnam was the divisions that occurred in the United States that made it, in the end, impossible to achieve an outcome that was compatible with the sacrifices that had been made," former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

Support for the war has dropped in recent polls, and criticism of President Bush's handling of the conflict has grown. The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, taken Aug. 5-7, found that 54 percent of those surveyed thought the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a mistake.

Kissinger said the United States faces a battle to halt the spread of radical Islam in Iraq, and it would be "a catastrophe for the whole world" if it fails.

Kissinger, who served as national security adviser and secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford administrations, said the United States should remove any troops that are not necessary to the American goal of stabilizing Iraq -- "But we cannot begin with an exit without having first defined what the objective is."

"If a radical government emerges in Baghdad or if any part of Iraq becomes what Afghanistan used to be, a training ground for terrorists, then this will be a catastrophe for the Islamic world and for Europe, much as they may -- reluctant as they may be to admit it -- and eventually for us."

U.S. losses have spiked sharply in August, with 54 Americans killed in Iraq since the beginning of the month. Iraq's transitional government faces a Monday deadline to present a proposed constitution for an October referendum, followed by elections for a permanent government.

<snip>

[Julius Civitatus]

1. So why not Saudi Arabia instead of Iraq????

Kissinger mumbled: "the United States is battling to stop the spread of radical Islam"

So if that is our "real purpose," should we have started with Saudi Arabia? Shouldn't we have leveled our "ally" Pakistan?

Instead, they picked the most secular country in the region to start a war?
Bullshit! It doesn't fly.

It was all about the OIL.

[Javaman]

2. Exactly, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the breeding grounds...

Kissinger is a war criminal. However, I have one of his quotes taped to my computer and it goes:

"The guerrila wins by not losing. The army loses by not winning."

Call me kooky, but it appears we are not winning, there for the former is true.

[0007]

3. Why isn't this scum sucking piece of trash in prison?

[bemildred]

4. Why did Henry crawl out from under his rock?

We have Kissinger up the wazoo all of a sudden.
Henry is an ignorant blowhard who has fucked up everything he ever touched.
He ought to be in jail, or better yet swinging from some good manila hemp, for war crimes and genocide, and he would be if he happened to travel to the wrong country.
And yet we are supposed to listen to his bloviating about Iraq.

[Eloriel]

5. So if we fail in Iraq, it will be the fault of the anit-war folks as

our failure in Vietnam was:

"For me, the tragedy of Vietnam was the divisions that occurred in the United States that made it, in the end, impossible to achieve an outcome that was compatible with the sacrifices that had been made," former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

Pardon me while I :puke:

[Moderator]

6. guruoo

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