Does Rumsfeld Remember His Own Vietnam Lessons for Iraq?

[struggle4progress]

By James M. Carter
Mr. Carter is Assistant Professor of History, Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi.

... It is true, after all, that Rumsfeld, who warned us that the American mission in Iraq would be “a long, hard slog,” knows very well what the U.S. is up against in Iraq. As a Representative from Illinois during the 1960s, he traveled to Vietnam along with a team of congressmen during the “Americanization” of the effort there. This team conducted the first comprehensive investigation of the U.S. economic and military assistance programs to Vietnam. Its members investigated war-induced inflation, hoarding, the black market economy, corruption, theft and other “diversions” of American aid, the auditing and oversight processes, profiteering, capital flight, port congestion, the effort to pacify the people, the refugee problem, the public health care infrastructure and the massive construction contracts awarded to private firms to physically build the new nation.

This investigation revealed shocking levels of corruption, mismanagement and out right theft that were built in to the program. Donald Rumsfeld reported to the subcommittee, “I want this record and you gentlemen to know how disappointed I was at the discussions in Vietnam with AID personnel.” Repeatedly, questions put to these officials by Rumsfeld and others, “could not be answered…because of the lack of records, the lack of audits, the lack of procedures whereby this information would be available. And I got the feeling…that the information is not available. It was this thread that ran through the entire investigation that gave me a great deal of concern. It is distressing for a member of a subcommittee to be attempting to come to grips with these problems, and to be repeatedly told that necessary and basic information is not available.” The result of these considerable and overlapping problems, Rumsfeld added, “has been that the U.S…programs have failed to appreciably assist the Vietnamese in developing a more stable and secure society.”

These were not little problems, according to Rumsfeld, but large ones which threatened to undermine the entire project. The United States, he wrote, “has committed billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of military and civilian personnel to Vietnam. Thousands of lives have been lost and additional heavy losses can be expected….Unless we can advance the economic, political, and social development of Vietnam, any military success will be limited and of little lasting value.” Rumsfeld clearly understood what the mission in Vietnam involved, and he decried “the almost total lack of success on the nonmilitary side of the effort. All could be wasted unless the political instability, religious and regional differences, and the severe economic difficulties are remedied.” ...

http://www.hnn.us/articles/20014.html

[thebigidea]

1. when in the 60s? I'm almost positive it'd be during LBJ's term, eh?

he'd never underine a Republican war. If it was during Nixon's term, he'd be full of glowing reports about how great vietnamization is working, and how much good progress we're making.

[struggle4progress]

2. Yes, he was p!ss!ng on LBJ. But the comments quoted in the article ...

... probably reflect the reality of the VN war and could, with only minor changes, be used to describe the situation in Iraq.

When will they ever learn?