13 September 2006

Jungles of Concrete...

Nixon said in 1970 at the height of the escalation into Cambodia, that if

“the United States of America acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and free institutions throughout the world”



Bush the Lesser, on the fifth anniversary of September 11th, quoted bin Laden:

"Osama bin Laden calls this fight "the third world war" _ and he says that victory for the terrorists in Iraq will mean America's "defeat and disgrace forever.""

But?

Given that substituting the shattered neighborhoods of Fallujah and Baghdad for the jungles of Vietnam, the parallel strengthens. Entering either, behind every fallen block of an apartment house, as behind the trees of Vietnam, may lurk the 'insurgent' (Excuse me: I meant 'Islamofascist') that becomes an American soldier's executioner.

When America pulled its troops and embassy staff out of Vietnam, totalitarianism and anarchy did not conquer the planet. Efforts in Africa and Central America became the new raison d'être for the MPCIC, as continued jousting between Reagan chickenhawks and the USSR took center stage.

When Bush the Lesser ends the Iraq War (or Oil War III), the 'defeat and disgrace forever' will only be attached to his misAdministration, not the American Fighting Forces.

Why?

As they have never been able to state clearly their requirements for 'victory' (imagine if Bush the Lesser simply said “When I have syphoned 600 million barrels through a Halliburton pipeline into Kuwait, THEN I can declare victory.”), continued presence only reduces the already-meager number of Iraqis that support continued Coalition presence.

If American largesse had been offered to the Iraqi people through rational reconstruction efforts, rather than through

war profiteering, this war
would have ended by now.

ZENmud

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