On The Road To Saigon

Nation: Bush, Emulating LBJ, Advances Into Drawn Out Struggle

(The Nation)  This column was written by Robert Scheer.

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Every time I hear President Bush railing against those who would "cut and run" in Iraq instead of pursuing "victory," as he does almost daily, I think back to similar claims being made for the Vietnam debacle when I reported from Saigon in the mid-'60s. Back then, the US troop presence was lower and casualties fewer than now in Iraq, but the carnage, on all sides, would escalate for the next decade, as we waited miserably for the corner to be turned.

Then, as now, calls for setting a timetable for an orderly withdrawal were rejected as emboldening our enemy to attack America. Instead of a dignified withdrawal, we plunged ever deeper into the quagmire, leaving 59,000 US troops and 3.4 million Indochinese dead as tribute to our stupidity. Finally, there was nothing to do but "cut and run" in the most ignominious fashion. With our US personnel being lifted by helicopter from roofs near our embassy, it seemed like a low point for US influence, and there were dire predictions of communism's global dominance — just as there is today for the "Islamo-fascist" bogeyman the president has seized upon.

Those predictions, however, proved dead wrong. Communism did not advance as a worldwide force after our defeat in Vietnam. On the contrary, a victorious communist-run Vietnam soon went to war with the China-backed communists of Cambodia — overthrowing Pol Pot's evil Khmer Rouge — and with communist China itself, in a bloody border war.

Today communist Vietnam is still battling communist China — but now it is for shelf space in Wal-Mart and Costco. The United States, meanwhile, spending itself silly under the haplessly irresponsible President Bush, is now dependent on China both to carry its debt and contain communist North Korea's nuclear threat.

So why accept the president's shrill insistence that a US withdrawal from Iraq would be a disaster? Surely our departure would compel Iraq's neighbors in Iran, Syria and Jordan to get serious about quelling the civil war that they have abetted and which, in the absence of the US occupation, would threaten to breach Iraq's borders. Why not assume, as turned out to be the case with Vietnam, that the Iraqis are best qualified to make their own history?

The astounding arrogance that underwrites Bush's smug determination to keep killing and maiming tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of people is no different than that of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Both knew the war was a failure but determined to "stay the course" for a decade out of a misguided belief in protecting an image of American infallibility that was paired with shameful political motives.

Now, as in Vietnam, our arrogance has created disaster in Iraq. Our soldiers continue to kill and die, at enormous cost to the US taxpayers and in international influence and moral standing, but the cause is already lost, doomed by the ignorance, lies and bad faith that launched it.

Astonishingly, considering our history and the stakes, our leaders show not the slightest interest in understanding the fierce nationalism and deep religious divisions that have marked the Mideast since long before the United States existed as a nation. And thus we have repeated the decisive folly of Vietnam, where our "experts" ignored a thousand-year history of Chinese occupation in assuming that the fierce nationalist Ho Chi Minh was a puppet of masters in Red Beijing.

This time, we are led by a false warrior who insists on playing the simpleton, ignoring his prestigious education at Andover and Yale in favor of what he presumes are the prejudices of Middle America. Or is this giving Bush, the son of a president, too much credit? After all, we know from the various insider memoirs that Bush was unaware that Islam is roughly divided into two rival sects, Sunni and Shiite, while just last week he bizarrely announced that our Iraq policy had never been "stay the course — as if he was unaware of the invention of video-recording equipment that had captured him saying just that countless times.

Whatever you call it, his approach is a sham and a disaster. It is long past time to let pragmatic realpolitik find a patchwork solution that the region and Iraqis can accept, peacefully. That is the expected advice from Bush family consigliere and troubleshooter James Baker and his Iraq Study Group, which is to report soon after the election. Truly frightening on this Day of the Dead, though, is that Bush probably won't listen to reason, unless the voters first soundly repudiate him in next week's election.

[jpesot]

I think this captures the situation as well as anyone could. Nothing else needs to be said.

[random_radar]

If you want to elect a democratic government, it would probably be a good idea not to compare Iraq to Viet Nam. If the American people realized that the Democrats already made the mistake before, they might not have any confidence in putting the Democrats in power.

On the other hand, the Republicans aren't any solution either. Do you get the impression that Government transcends Parties and the people are mere pawns to staff imperialist wars? Have we finally become the willing chattels of the elites? I think so.

[peacethinker-2009]

The Nation tells it like it is. Bravo.

[kwlambi]

LBJ and W are from the same state. Stupid is as stupid does. In the latest approval polls, 39% of Americans still support W, after all his admin has done internally and externally. The reason that number isnt lower is because we do not know who will emerge for the 2008 election. This election next week is already over for the GOP, and Im willing to bet that Bushs rating will fall into the mid 20s by the time he leaves office,26 MONTHS from now. Hooray.

[bluestardad]

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES.

[emhawks]

Why are we in the Iraq War? As it was with Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War, so it is with George W. Bush and Richard Cheney and the Iraq War.
FOLLOW THE MONEY.

[emhawks]

Regarding the Iraq War & 911:
The only "conspiracy theory" is the official story we've been told. "When money talks, the truth is silent."-- Russian proverb.

[adian1-2009]

Excellent!! The only thing Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld knew about the Middle East when they decided to invade Iraq was their oil reserves. And for this nation's disgrace, it seems that they do not learn. Let's face it: this one is not a winable war. It will go as bad, if not worse, than it went in Vietnam. The war in Iraq is a lot less legitimate than our intervention in Vietnam. This is a government-backed-corporate war for oil.

[adian1-2009]

The similarity between Iraq and Vietnam is that the result in both equations is DEFEATED.

[wvopfor81]

Adam good job give up. Here terrorist, Please kill my family kill me I just want to live in peace
WT^

[wvopfor81]

Adam is there nothing worth fighting for ?? pls tell me what you stand for? Nothing ?

[jpesot]

There's plenty worth fighing for ... but Iraq was an ideolgical adventure, and nothing more.

[wvopfor81]

Think about it The US military did not Lose Vietnam it was lost in the continental United States by politicians and the loss of faith of the people. Conflicts take time and are expensive in human lives and money. You must be committed. The committed wins. Our military will not lose this battle it will be the American public that loses its faith and will force the politicians to make unwise decisions on behalf of the military (Vietnam). Let us not repeat or history the first American war in Asia was hard. Let us not repeat the mistakes. Why dose the general American population have ADD

[wvopfor81]

%u201CIraq was an ideological adventure%u201D, you have got to be kidding me I am sitting in IQ because of Ideology: ( AKA principles) well that is good to know.

Dude you have to have more that that you are so jacked in the head

[wvopfor81]

JP what would you fight for ??? %u2026%u2026. Would you fight for your freedom? How about fighting for some one else%u2019s freedom would you do that??

some how I dont think you would fight for very much...

[perception5]

As Ronald Reagan would say%u2026%u2026.. %u201CWell %u2026%u2026%u2026 there you go again %u2026%u2026%u201D Looks like our liberal MSM wolfpack has some explaining to do%u2026%u2026.. now for the facts:

The %u201CCenter for Media and Public Affairs%u201D did an accounting of the network newscasts from September 5 thru October 22 and found an overwhelming liberal bias.
On the "Big Three%u201D" network newscasts, the audit showed a clear jihad against the Republican Party. Only 12 percent of election stories that aired on NBC, ABC, or CBS could be regarded as remotely "favorable" to Republicans.
"Democrats basked in glory." The study showed that 77 percent of news accounts in the six-week period offered favorable evaluations of Democratic candidates and lawmakers.
77% to 12% isn%u2019t what most Americans would say was %u201Cfair-n-balanced%u201D. Does anyone one out there think that any of the networks engaged in this propaganda will carrying this story?............. sad and shameful that Americans can%u2019t trust the news anymore%u2026%u2026%u2026%u2026..
Looks like we need %u201Caffirmative action%u201D programs at CBS, NBC, and ABC %u2026%u2026%u2026.. just for starters%u2026

[russellvbrla]

Gee, a republican blaming the media for Americans not enjoying this war the way a good republican does. What a surprise! If you are of fighting age, and you enjoy this war, then you should enlist and take part in the fun. Afterall, since the media lies about the war and its masters, it must really be a piece of cake and lots of fun. What is the flavor of the Kool-aid that Bush and Cheney are serving? Must be delicious!

[observantx]

I don't believe there is a liberal bias in the Main Stream Media. I believe the news has gotten so bad in so many areas of the Iraq war, presidential blindsight, Congressional corruption, broken healthcare, and vandalism of the Constitution, that the media has nothing else to report.

All this whining by the wingers about "liberal" media is a result of the Kool-Aid binges they have been indulging in.

VOTE to clean house!

[cofmanaaron]

perception: You think Fox news (where you likely heard that story as did I) doesn't have a bias? Or maybe you think that Limbaugh was right on attacking Michael J. Fox, too. Here's an idea, maybe the 77% of the news that is damaging to Republicans is the reality of the situation. Every time I hear you self-righteous conservatives whine how the media shows you looking bad, I can't help but think that if you had your way, all media would be government censored and unable to report WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON. Get your head out of the sand and see your party for what it really is, elitist, power-mad, and decidedly uncompassionate.