Acknowledging The Nightmare....
David Frum writes:
In some horrible rerun of Vietnam, the US has let the enemy establish safe havens just on the other side of the line, from which it draws supplies and reinforcements with impunity. It's like some baby boomer nightmare: after decades of swearing that we would never repeat the mistakes of our parents, we are re-enacting the errors committed in Indochina in the 1960s and 1970s, every single one.It gives me no joy to note that this post from over a year ago alerted readers of this space to the dangerous Vietnam-redux realities the apologists must now admit. While their belated awakening is welcome, their shameful record will outlast them. How many lives could have been saved on both sides if intellectual honesty and common sense had prevailed over political exigencies and blind faith?
posted by The Cunning Realist at Thursday, July 27, 2006
13 Comments:
So Frun would like us to have a secret bombing camping to flush out these safe havens in Iran??? The Vietnam analogy is just a thinly veiled disguise for spreading the war.
It is no coincidence that the leaders most responsible for getting us in to Iraq did not take part in, nor learn from, the Vietnam experience.
Nor is it an accident that Colin Powell, who did learn from Vietnam, did not think the war was a good idea.
That is why we should elect leaders who have actually thought seriously about the world before they were elected to public office.
That is why we should elect leaders who have actually thought seriously about the world before they were elected to public office.
Unfortunately, our political system is broken, and reward neither prudence, candor, nor intelligence.
-- sglover
"It Just Feels Like We're Driving Around Waiting To Get Blown Up"...
So who lost Iraq?
After Gibbons, it is not who won or lost, but who believe it was theirs to win or lose in the first place.
Ha. That's really rich, coming from Frum, one of the people responsible for selling the morons in this country on the Iraq war to begin with.
Why would anyone ever listen to anything he has to say on the subject?
How many lives could have been saved if the US Senate had a spine in 2002/2003.
"We stand passively mute..."
Speaking of Gibbons, anyone remember his description of the Jews? (Book 2, I believe.) It'd serve to tie this post and the UN bombing together . . .
Oh . . . but that makes him anti-semitic . . . posthumously?
I'll second what both neils and sglover wrote.
TCR readers interested in the subjects of guerrila warfare, the mideast, and the future of both, may also enjoy this guy: Open Source Warfare
It can be pretty dense theoretical writing sometimes, but in my opinion, like TCR, he has a very clear and fresh insight which jibes well with the facts. A good post to get the overarching framework from, by the same author writing on a different website, is here.
From the point of view of Open Source Warfare, you could say that Vietnam was, well, not exactly 4th-Generation Warfare but at least "Warfare v3.8" The Iraq conflict might be roughly "Warfare 4.2" and Israel/Lebanon is "Warfare 4.5". Meanwhile, Donald Rumsfeld, still dazzled by America's resounding victory in "Warfare 2.0", doggedly believes he can win with his strategy of "Warfare 2.9"
It was just a very short time ago we read troop lvls were being reduced. Well, it's a new day and now more troops, no reduction. Afghanistan and Iraq are having major violence.
Jay Leno was joking about Cheney saying something about being behind the wars, and then Jay said yeh that would be something like 5 deferments. Cheney gladly hides in a bunker, protected by others, and sends other people's kids, mothers and fathers without a care in the world. But he's not a chickenhawk, he's chicken*hit.
Didn't you hear, "Frank Rich: Why the television networks 'canceled' the war in Iraq".
Where did you find it? Interesting read http://www.outdoor-bars-furniture.info Debbie travie facelift Infiniti 1994 g20t Bmw m5 photos Kentucky bextra lawsuit Format 2 hard drives on windows xo Art chair clip free wheel shopping shoes rhinoplasty nj Teen fuck britney Chevy tahoe heater control repair Secret of monkey island ringtone Dvd in dash car stereos Love frenzy perfume http://www.onlinepayment4.info
Post a Comment
<< Home