White House on the defensive over occupation of Iraq Is this Bush’s Vietnam?

White House on the defensive over occupation of Iraq Is this Bush’s
Vietnam?

(EXCERPT) September 19, 2003 |
Page 2

"THINGS IN Iraq are going quite well. We’re winning the battle on
terrorism there, and we’re winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi
people." That was Army Gen. Richard Myers, chair of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, speaking recently on CBS’s The Early Show. Myers’ talk about
"hearts and minds" was eerily reminiscent of another U.S. military
operation three decades ago--Vietnam.

"I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965, the enemy was winning,
today, he is certainly losing," Gen. William Westmoreland told
reporters in November 1967. "He sees the strength of his forces
steadily declining." A few months later came the Vietnamese fighters’
Tet Offensive--which showed the world that a poorly equipped guerilla
army could beat the world’s most powerful military machine.

The similarities between Iraq and Vietnam don’t end with Myers’ happy
talk. The language of the Vietnam War--"quagmire," "bogged down"--is
creeping its way into use again.

As in Vietnam, the U.S. government’s first plan was to back a...

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Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com