This is like deja vu all over again Yogi

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.historychannel.com/speeches/archive/speech_266.html

<snip>As 1968 began, U.S. military leadership was still confident that a favorable peace agreement could be forced on the North Vietnamese. Despite growing calls at home for an immediate U.S. withdrawal, hawks like Secretary of State Dean Rusk and General William Westmoreland planned to keep the pressure on the North Vietnamese through increased bombing and other attrition strategies. Westmoreland claimed to see clearly "the light at the end of the tunnel," and Rusk believed that soon the shell-shocked Communists would stumble out of the jungle to the bargaining table. However, on January 31, 1968, the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong launched their massive Tet Offensive all across South Vietnam. In the first week of the offensive, countless Allied positions fell to the Communists, including the city of Hu‰, and for a short time, the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. By the end of February, most of the territory lost to the Communists was regained and the Viet Cong were destroyed, but the unexpected offensive had crushed U.S. hopes for an imminent end to the conflict. In Tet's aftermath, President Lyndon Johnson came under fire on all sides for his Vietnam policy. On March 31, he announced that the United States would begin de-escalation in Vietnam, halt the bombing of North Vietnam, and seek a peace agreement to end the conflict. In the same speech, he also announced that he would not seek re-election to the presidency. On May 3, the North Vietnamese agreed to meet American delegates in Paris for peace talks.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=72FC096A-3163-4401-B60FCEA06F0C7039

US General Promises Success in Iraq

VOA News
13 Nov 2003, 21:13 UTC

The head of the U.S. Central Command says he is sure coalition troops in Iraq will defeat insurgents trying to break the American will to stay in the country.

General John Abizaid says the major security threat in Iraq comes from some 5,000 Baath party members and loyalists to former ruler Saddam Hussein. He says the insurgents appear to have considerable training, supplies and money.

But he contends there is no military threat that can defeat U.S. forces. Thursday night, U.S. forces in Iraq continued a new operation against insurgents with a second night of strikes in and near Baghdad. Explosions were also reported in Kirkuk and Fallujah.

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