So when will he understand about Iraq?
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Bush Upbeat as Iraq Burns
What I like most about this column is a single, simple quote from the Bush autobiography about his views on Vietnam (note the flip-flop):
At the time of Vietnam Bush was a hawk, willing to send others to die in Vietnam while he protected Texas. He remains a hawk. Perhaps when he's writing his presidential memorirs and it is impossible to avoid the truth, he'll understand that everything he said about Vietnam applies to his policy regarding Iraq."My inclination was to support the government and the war until proven wrong, and that only came later, as I realized we could not explain the mission, had no exit strategy, and did not seem to be fighting to win."
He is certainly inclined today to support "the government and the war until proven wrong." And, of course, normal standards of proof - common sense, CIA reports, Republic senators deeply steeped in foreign affairs - don't apply. But the problem is, lots of other people are dying while he awaits "proof " that only he can define - you know, something beyond the "guessing" of CIA analysts. (He tried to call back the word "guessing" and change it to the report having presented "possibilities, not "proibabilities." Exactly the opposite is true. The man is in Fantasyland, big time. )
As with the Vietnam-era leaders, he can not explain the mission in Iraq today. Ask yourself some simple questions, Mr. President. Do the people who oppose us today in Iraq have weapons of mass destruction? Are they trying to restore Saddam to power? Those were your rationales for starting this war. They are long gone -proven wrong, even by your standards. Now that you have screwed everythinng up and caused so many innocent deaths, you are trying to wrap yourself in the flag of freedom. It is an obscene gesture - the last resort of a scoundrel, or a deluded little rich boy who always had everything handed to him by Daddy.
You say we had "no exit strategy" for Vietnam. What in the name of God is your exit strategy today? Turn the battle over the to the Iraqis? We had this same failed "exit strategy" in Vietnam. It was called "Vetnamization." It didn't work then and there's no evidence that it's working today,. Every time we have attempted to use Itaqi armed forces or police it has failed.
We "did not seem to be fighting to win." Oh, in Vietnam we fought to win. We left 50,000 dead Americans on the field to show how hard we fought to win. And we left many, many more dead Vietnamese. But now our Army has learned. So when you ordered the marines to attack a Faluja, the generals tried to tell you it was foolish: That if we are successful we will be successful only by killing so many innocent peoploe that in the long-run we will lose. They learned from Vietnam - you didn't. You didn't understand this and insisted they attack. Then in the middle of the battle you got religion. You saw it wouldn't work. So you declared victory, gave the city to the rebels, and ran.
You don't listen to anyone else, Mr. President. But you should listen to yourself. It took you a long time to learn the lesson of Vietnam. How quickly you have frgotten them.
Posted by Greg Stone at September 24, 2004 05:37 AM