Someone Tell Bush We Lost Vietnam

[No Exit]

...even though we "stayed the course".

Someone Tell Bush We Lost Vietnam
By Larry Johnson

I had my Scooby Doo moment for the day when President Bush, speaking in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, said there were lessons to be learned from the divisive Vietnam war: "We tend to want there to be instant success in the world, and the task in Iraq is going to take awhile . . .We'll succeed unless we quit."

What in God's name is he talking about? I realize W missed the last few months of his time with the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, but I had not realized, until now, that he completely ignored what happened in Vietnam. Mr. President. We fought in Vietnam for more than twelve years. More than two million U.S. soldiers fought there. Almost 57,000 American soldiers died and several hundred thousand were wounded. We trained hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese troops, we killed almost one million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, we dropped more explosives on Vietnam then we used during World War II, and we defolitated significant portions of Vietnam's rain forest.

(snip)

So, what lesson are we to draw from all of this? Are you arguing that if we had stuck it out in Vietnam and spilled the blood of another 50,000 Americans and one million Vietnamese that things would be better today in Vietnam? Mr. President, that is bullshit.

The lesson of Vietnam for our policy in Iraq is that we should not waste the blood or limb of one more American soldier without a clear vision and plan of what we are trying to achieve. Most of the violence we face today is from indigenous Iraqis who see us as occupiers. The insurgents may not agree among themselves what the future of Iraq should be politically, but they are united in expelling us from the country.

(snip)

(emphasis added at the point where I most agree with the writer)

http://tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/nov/17/someone_tell_bush_we_lost_vietnam

Oh, and, Mr. President? Don't even talk to me about invading Iran and Syria.

[immoderate]

1. Telling Bush anything is a waste of time.

He already knows all he's going to know. And most of that is wrong.

--IMM

[Vogon_Glory]

2. Let's Be Kinder and Gentler With Lieutenant GW Bush

Let's be kinder and gentler with Lieutenant George W. Bush. His view of what was happening in Vietnam was obscured by his diligence and hard work in the Alabama Air National Guard in the mid-1970's. ;-)

:patriot:

[Toots]

3. We did not lose Vietnam. We lost 58000 American souls and for nothing

Vietnam is doing fairly well in the world today. For the amount of money we spent blowing people and property up there we could have furnished each and every Vietnamese person with a new home and color TV and made friends for life. But noooo the GOP philosophy is "we would rather be feared than loved" The same can be said for Iraq. Most wars are not really about religion but about power and the haves vs the have nots. We need to create more haves and the world will thrive...

[madrchsod]

4. there is no comparison

between the reasons for war in vietnam and iraq but the outcome will be the same unless we decide to engage the rest of the middle east in a settlement.

[Toots]

5. What about the outcome of Vietnam do you not like?

Why do you not wish for a similar outcome in Iraq? Is Vietnam not doing fairly well in the world today? Are they not a happy nation? How would you "fix" Vietnam? Why do you think Iraqis are less qualified to govern their own country than the Vietnamese are? Iraqis have actually been governing themselve for a longer time than Vietnam or in fact any country in the world and we are supposed to tell them how to do it......We that have been a country for barely over two hundred years.....

[madrchsod]

7. well one thing thing comes to mind---

we do nothing to help those who are still being poisoned by agent orange. we did nothing to help the children of our soldiers that were left behind. we did not engage vietnam for years over the mia issue,trade,and other issues. we ran away from the vietnam war for years because we perceived we lost. it was the former soldiers of that war that began the reconciliation between our nations not our governments. should we as a nation walk away like we did in vietnam and leave it up to our soldiers 20 or 30 years from now decide to engage the iraqi`s in peace?

i do not think there is anyone in the democratic leadership that thinks that we should run the iraqi government or that we could. no one is going to walk away from iraq for a long time we better figure out the best way to deal with that reality.

[hedgehog]

6. Wonderful

I was thinking the same thing. Bush thinks we "won" in Viet Nam.