Clarence Page; Bush's painful flip-flops on Vietnam, Iraq

[babylonsister]

Clarence Page; Bush's painful flip-flops on Vietnam, Iraq
09/19/2007,
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President Bush has sternly and persistently rejected comparisons between Iraq and the Vietnam War -- until he decided to embrace them.

As far back as an April 2004 news conference, he said, "I think the analogy is false. I also happen to think that analogy sends the wrong message to our troops and sends the wrong message to the enemy."

But that message was OK to send to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. At their convention, Bush mentioned the V-word to argue against the quick withdrawal of American troops. "One unmistakable legacy of Vietnam," he said, "is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps,' and 'killing fields.' "

In other words, Bush appears to be arguing that Iraq is not like Vietnam as long as we stay, but it will be if we leave. Critics of the Iraq war have long used the Vietnam analogy to say why we should not have gotten into Iraq. Bush now uses the same analogy to argue for us to stick around.

To those who have memories longer than a fruit fly's attention span, Bush's flip-flop sounded like a brave strategic move or maybe just weird. For one thing, he brings up a war that revives countless boomer-generation resentments. They include suspicions about how he avoided combat by serving in the Texas Air National Guard and old questions about how Vice President Cheney avoided military service altogether. That would not be as big of a deal were it not for the wise strategic and diplomatic advice that the administration received and pretty much ignored from actual Vietnam combat veterans such as former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

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http://www.daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=403803

[babylonsister]

1. It's a good one, and I like Mr. Page. nt