It's NOT Vietnam...It's Worse!!!

by jmckay

During the recent presidential campaign, it was common for people on both sides to downplay the similarities between Iraq and Vietnam. They were right. Iraq and Vietnam are very different. Unfortunately, the reason for this is because Iraq is WORSE than Vietnam. Bush and his neocons have mired us in a war that combines the bungling quagmire of Vietnam with the zealotry of the many holy wars that have plagued the history of mankind.

Like Vietnam, the administration has rolled out a disinformation campaign worthy of Pravda in order to convince the citizenry that this quagmire is in our national interest and is going just swimmingly. "We'll be welcomed as liberators!" "Freedom is on the march!"

Unlike Vietnam, their actions have not been confined to a what ultimately proved to be essentially a civil war in a remote geographic region. Instead, they have unleashed new generations of young middle eastern men and women who now feel justified and heroic in blowing us up (with, we now know, at least 260 tons of explosives stolen from under our noses while we protected the oil wells) and beheading our citizens and our dwindling number of allies. Vietnam was peanuts compared to this. The forces we have ignited in Iraq are potentially nuclear and extend to future generations of one of the major cultures/religions of the world.

Bin Laden has found his perfect foil for creating a holy war in George W. Bush, a man who missed the lessons of Vietnam by hanging out in a frat house while the rest of his generation marched in the streets.