Monday, October 25, 2004
[1854 - Lord Cardigan leads charge of the Light Brigade {Battle of Balaclava}]
The "Vietnamization" of Iraq
Early on in this President's ill-fated Iraq adventure there were many fanciful comparisons to the Vietnam experience, and much talk of quagmire. Like a lot of us who served and lived through the Vietnam debacle, William was unimpressed by these strained efforts to find parallels. Mr. Bush is making believers of us though, and Mr. Kerry seems just as confused.
It became clear to all that gross mismanagement of the Vietnam conflict had placed this Nation and our military forces in the midst of an un-win-able war. In a desperate attempt to save face, the reigning leader of that era announced a new strategy called "Vietnamization." The idea was a simple one:
1. Create another in the succession of puppet regimes in the Republic of Vietnam.The Iraq exit strategy espoused by the two current principal contenders for the highest office in the land bears a striking resemblance to the cover story for the US withdrawal from Vietnam. One cringes to imagine a reprise of the ignominious scenes of US helos airlifting the last survivors from the roof of the US Embassy in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) while hundreds of Vietnamese civilians milled at the embassy gates or scaled the walls in terror, anticipating the fate that would befall them once they had been labeled as US collaborators. One wonders what form the chaos will take this time around.
2. Give them some training and military equipment.
3. Turn over the mess to them.
4. Beat a hasty retreat.
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