While it is obvious that George H.W. Bush understood the ramifications of a prolonged occupation of Iraq, he somehow failed to pass that piece of advice off to his son. The Iraq situation today looks exactly like another Vietnam. While any number of caveats could be added to muddy this quick comparison that is not the point of this article. The point of this article is that Democrats have failed to point out the relevance that Iraq has to Vietnam; a mistake our leaders promised would never be repeated.
Democrats must draw parallels between Iraq and Vietnam. For example, undoubtedly there were comparisons between Vietnam and WWII made during that time, just like they are being made today. Instead of Vietnam being the main target, it was the greater war against Soviet Russia that was touted as the reason we could not pull out. Vietnam supported the communists and was against democracy. Pulling out would be a victory for communism everywhere. Today, these same talking points are being applied to the greater War on terror.
After we pulled out of Vietnam, rather than emboldening our enemy (the Soviet Union), we instead saw their long, slow decline, as their ideology failed under mounting opposition. The same thing will happen to the terrorists. The terrorists cannot win because they are murderers. They are the true villains, and the only thing that prevents their true agenda from being exposed is their ability to hide behind propaganda that the United States is the true villain, and they are just protecting poor Muslims from oppression. We all know that isn+óGé¼Gäót true.
We must show Americans that Iraq is a repeat of Vietnam. We must show how the Bush Administration has repeated history, and made the same mistake. It doesn+óGé¼Gäót matter that the terrorism has no country. In essence, communism had no country; it was simply an ideology. We were at war with uncontained communism (to differentiate with China which has not taken over any of its neighbors). Now we are at war with the ideology of Radical Islam. Radical Islam will fail. The Taliban failed because they were committing horrible crimes against their own people, and were already being scorned by the global community years before 9/11.
On the campaign trail, I hope that candidates begin to repeat over and over that Iraq is another Vietnam. Whatever differences the Iraq War has with Vietnam (and of course there are many) the similarities are too strong to ignore. Republicans have recreated Vietnam 30 years later. The public has a right to know that.
Now, if only we had a candidate for Senate who understood the lessons of Vietnam...wait a minute...WE DO!