(AFP/POOL/Kham )
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The Prez Finally Makes It to Vietnam. Well, what do you know? It was a little late as far as the Vietnam war is concerned, but I guess better late than never. At least he was not like the VP who had other priorities during Vietnam which kept him from serving.
I guess there is something to say that the President visited given the US exit from Vietnam, humiliating as it was. Amazing, how things change.
Who is writing the President's speeches? His affirming Vietnam and its tremendous growth and the fact that it is poised to rival economies like China, and Japan, is to be commended. But, he compared Vietnam's transition to a modern, growing economy that gave him hope about what could be done to salvage Iraq; and, in so many words, he said the American experience in Vietnam was that "we'll succeed (in Iraq) unless we quit."
(AFP/Mandel Ngan)
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With statements like these, I often would love to say, "Mr. President, I think you inhaled, right?" The comparison of success and failure in Vietnam and Iraq could not be more dissimilar.
We made some basic errors in Vietnam. Even if we had done things differently, it is hard to say what would have happened.
Once we realized that the South Vietnamese government was exceedingly corrupt, we should have taken over the country, done what we had to do, and sorted the details out later. Given who we are as a democracic society, that was nearly impossible.
The mistakes we made are very similar to what we have done in Iraq and drives us to think, Iraqnam.
The moment we introduced conventional soldiers into Vietnam, it became an American war. Had we left the Special Forces mainly involved with the South Vietnamese Army as advisers, it could have turned out differently.
(AFP/Saeed Khan)
| Ho Chi Minh always felt he could wait us out. Had he concluded that we were not leaving, he might have pursued peace and been serious about it. If history has shown us anything about Ho, it has been that he was practical. But, by using conventional troops, the agitation of the American public increased. Americans had a hard time believing that there was an element of our society, i. e., military that loved war and were prepared to stay as long as it took.
One big difference in Vietnam and Iraq and what makes the comparison so fruitless is that the Vietnamese have always had a great sense of national identity-whether North or South, always Vietnamese. They fought wars for years and the American war was just another one. For the North and South, it was a war of ideology, not culture.
There's surely more to it than can be delineated here. After the North was triumphant , there were the re-education camps, the boat people, and the transition to where Vietnam is today.
Vietnam, especially the South, is bathed in a capitalist economy and anybody who has been there recently can attest to it. Iraq is fueled by tribalism with no real sense of who they are outside of the tribalism. They are Shiite, Sunni, Kurds and this is not going to change; thousands of years of history illustrates this. Our leadership continues to be in a state of denial regardless of the evidence and statements from the Leader of the free world comparing Vietnam and Iraq reinforces the denial. KT
More About The Bush Trip to Vietnam:
Bush: Vietnam Holds Lesson by Mark Silva (Chicago Tribune)
Bush's church visit rewards Vietnam by Kate McGeown (BBC News)
Webzine Related Articles about Vietnam:
Are Vietnam and Iraq Similar? A September 02, 2006 Viewpoint
Revisionist History:The Vietnam War
Vietnamese In America
Fall Of Siagon
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