War analogy strikes nerve in Vietnam

[kurth]

War analogy strikes nerve in Vietnam
By BEN STOCKING, Associated Press Writer
Thu Aug 23, 1:45 PM ET

President Bush touched a nerve among Vietnamese when he invoked the Vietnam War in a speech warning that death and chaos will envelop Iraq if U.S. troops leave too quickly. People in Vietnam, where opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq is strong, said Thursday that Bush drew the wrong conclusions from the long, bloody Southeast Asian conflict. "Doesn't he realize that if the U.S. had stayed in Vietnam longer, they would have killed more people?" said Vu Huy Trieu of Hanoi, a veteran of the communist forces that fought American troops in Vietnam. "Nobody regrets that the Vietnam War wasn't prolonged except Bush." He said U.S. troops could never have prevailed here. "Does he think the U.S. could have won if they had stayed longer? No way," Trieu said.

Vietnam's official government spokesman offered a more measured response when asked at a regular media briefing to comment on Bush's speech to American veterans Wednesday. "With regard to the American war in Vietnam, everyone knows that we fought to defend our country and that this was a righteous war of the Vietnamese people," Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said. "And we all know that the war caused tremendous suffering and losses to the Vietnamese people." Dung said Vietnam hopes that the Iraq conflict will be resolved "very soon, in an orderly way, and that the Iraqi people will do their best to rebuild their country."...

Many people in Vietnam said Bush's comparison was ill-considered. The only way to restore order in Iraq is for the United States to leave, said Trinh Xuan Thang, a university student. "Bush sent troops to invade Iraq and created all the problems there," Thang said. If the U.S. withdrew, he said, the violence might escalate in the short term but the situation would eventually stabilize. "Let the Iraqis determine their fate by themselves," Thang said. "They don't need American troops there."

Ton Nu Thi Ninh, former chairwoman of the National Assembly's committee on foreign affairs, said Bush was unwise to stir up sensitive memories of the Vietnam War. "The price we, the Vietnamese people on both sides, paid during the war was due to the fact that the Americans went into Vietnam in the first place," Ninh said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070823/ap_on_re_as/vietnam_iraq_bush_1

[libodem]

1. #1 recommend

If we hadn't gone in, in the first place.....

[TomInTib]

2. Ironic, isn't it?

The Viets have a better understanding of the situation than does our own government.

[Xipe Totec]

8. That's because they were there, and Bush wasn't n/t

[Vincardog]

3. IF jr thought Viet Nam was such a great idea WTF did he go aWoL for?

Why did he get his dad to kick him to the Head of the line for the TANG and then desert instead of taking a physical?

I remember because he is a spoiled rich cheer leading frat boy who only ever got anywhere because he won the lucky sperm pool.

[roseBudd]

4. click through & rate it a 5

[MnFats]

5. If Bush had been in charge, we'd STILL be in Vietnam

with bodies piling up

there are so many things wrong with Bush's comments it makes my head spin.....


Think Bush ever heard of Bach Mai Hospital? (google it)


Bush probably wishes he had been able to invade Iraq secretly, as Nixon did with Cambodia....
but it all came out.....Nixon, Kissinger, warmongers supreme..

[uppityperson]

6. My thoughts on this are the same. k&r

[David Zephyr]

7. When George W. Bush begins lecturing on Vietnam, he's peaked in self-delusion.

LOL.

[partylessinOhio]

9. Will * attack Viet Nam for disagreeing with him?

Why don't the world leaders as a group just tell * to STFU!

[indepat]

10. Don't believe the additional number killed by staying longer is a consideration

[demigoddess]

11. bush just wants tokeep it going long enough to leave office, then he can

blame the quagmire on the next president and say, 'if they had only stayed the course, they would have known I was right"