I had my Scooby Doo moment for the day when President Bush, speaking in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, said there were lessons to be learned from the
divisive Vietnam war:
We
tend to want there to be instant success in the world, and the task in
Iraq is going to take awhile . . .We’ll succeed unless we quit.
What
in God’s name is he talking about? I realize W missed the last
few months of his time with the Air National Guard during the Vietnam
War, but I had not realized, until now, that he completely ignored what
happened in Vietnam. Mr. President. We fought in Vietnam
for more than twelve years. More than two million U.S. soldiers
fought there. Almost 57,000 American soldiers died and several
hundred thousand were wounded. We trained hundreds of thousands
of South Vietnamese troops, we killed almost one million North
Vietnamese and Viet Cong, we dropped more explosives on Vietnam then we
used during World War II, and we defolitated significant portions of
Vietnam’s rain forest.
And what did we achieve in the end? The United States fled the
South Vietnamese capital, Saigon, to escape the invading North
Vietnamese Army. North Vietnam “freed” the South from yankee
imperialists and set about “reeducating” the South Vietnamese.
News flash George. WE LOST!
So,
what lesson are we to draw from all of this? Are you arguing that
if we had stuck it out in Vietnam and spilled the blood of another
50,000 Americans and one million Vietnamese that things would be better
today in Vietnam? Mr. President, that is bullshit.
The
lesson of Vietnam for our policy in Iraq is that we should not waste
the blood or limb of one more American soldier without a clear vision
and plan of what we are trying to achieve. Most of the violence
we face today is from indigenous Iraqis who see us as occupiers.
The insurgents may not agree among themselves what the future of Iraq
should be politically, but they are united in expelling us from the
country.
We shed precious blood and treasure in Vietnam and then we abandoned
the South Vietnamese to the North. Politicians in that day issued
dire warnings that our retreat from Vietnam would lead to the communist
takeover of Southeast Asia. That never happened. Instead,
Vietnam developed on its own, fought a war with China, and is now
adopting capitalism rather than communism as its model for
growth. So much for falling dominoes.
There are several applicable lessons from Vietnam relative to
Iraq. The Vietnamese actually had first rate military units that
could fight on their on. Iraq’s military and police forces are
essentially proxies for sectarian militia groups. Putting our
troops in the midst of a civil war or war of national liberation
without the force structure and size to confront the threat is a futile
expenditure of U.S. lives. You have either forgotten or never
learned that the deaths of 57,000 Americans in Vietnam achieved nothing
other than inflicting sorrow and suffering on their surviving family
members.
At this point in Iraq our focus must be on counterinsurgency and
restoration of electricity, sewer, and potable water for the
population. The United States must shift the perception that we
are a foregin occupier and persuade the Iraqis through action that we
are getting the hell out. Otherwise, if you stay the course,
you’ll wake up in November of 2008 and be faced with 5000 dead
Americans and an Iraq shattered by sectarian strife.
Here’s a suggestion Mr. President. In your reading competition
with Karl Rove, drop the Shakespeare and read some current
history. Stanley Karnow’s, VIETNAM: A HISTORY, is worth your time.
