U.S. soldier during Aug. 16, 2007 Baghdad search operation. AP photo by Petr David Josek.
by Frank James
Historians and other experts may disagree with President Bush’s comparisons of Iraq to Vietnam.
But by linking that long ago war in Southeast Asia with the present one in the Middle East, the president may be paving the way for a generational debate following the current war that resembles that which occurred after Vietnam, namely “Who lost Iraq?”
After Vietnam, it was common for decades to hear conservatives and military leaders blame that war’s loss on civilian political officials in Washington who micromanaged the war, not allowing the military to win it, as well as liberals who caved to North Vietnamese Communists.
Liberals, on the other hand, said the Vietnam War was unwinnable for Americans since it was a fight against an insurgency and a nationalistic movement.
In any event, for years, the president has used an argument that seems to have grown out of the lesson that conservatives drew from Vietnam. He has said numerous times that his flag officers on the ground in Iraq, not politicians in Washington, would drive the decisions about troop levels and military tactics in Iraq.If political pressure grows great enough to force a faster and larger withdrawal of troops than Bush would prefer, and Iraq deteriorates further, Bush has already set the rhetorical framework for politicians in Washington, namely Democrats, to be blamed for losing Iraq.
Meanwhile, a recent statement by Gen. Raymond Odierno which I have quoted before in this blog also helps to lay the predicate that the military can still make a success out of Iraq if only the politicians don’t get in the way.
During a briefing, Odierno told reporters:
That statement appears to set the stage well for Washington politicians, mostly the congressional Democrats against the war, to eventually be accused by some in the military of pulling the rug out from under them if Congress should force more and faster troop withdrawals than military leaders want.
In his speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the president seemed to go even beyond pointing a finger at Washington politicians, with a suggestion that the American people would be at fault if they pushed for a withdrawal that allowed Iraq to descend into all out chaos.
He cited al Qaeda’s leaders’ critique of the Vietnam War, which was that the American people demanded that war’s end and that with enough pressure applied through terrorism, U.S. foreign policy could be changed again.
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Bush said:
There’s another price to our withdrawal from Vietnam, and we can hear it in the words of the enemy we face in today’s struggle — those who came to our soil and killed thousands of citizens on September the 11th, 2001. In a(n) interview with a Pakistani newspaper after the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden declared that the American people had risen against their government’s war in Vietnam, and they must do the same today.
Number two man Zawahiri has also invoked Vietnam. In a letter to al Qaeda’s chief of operations in Iraq, Zawahiri pointed and — quote, “To the aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam, and how they ran and left their agents,” end quote.
Zawahiri later returned to this theme, declaring that Americans, quote, “know better than others that there is no hope in victory. The Vietnam specter is closing every outlet.” Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price for American credibility, but the terrorists see it differently. We must listen to the words of the enemy. We must listen to what they say.
Of course, Democrats for their part, have been making their own accusations. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has already said the war is lost, blaming Bush for the initial invasion and many mistakes along the way. Many other Democrats have offered versions of this analysis, though they may not have gone as far as Reid in saying the war is already lost.
In a way, all that’s happening in the present Iraq debate only proves that Iraq doesn’t even have to be officially lost for the finger pointing to start. It already has.