Monday, April 12, 2004
Tet Offensive of 2004?
I would like to move beyond Kennedy's assertion that Iraq has become Bush's Viet Nam to posit that the current devolution into civil war by the native insurgents aided by Islamists from outside has become Bush's Tet Offensive. This action by the Viet Cong has come to be seen by Vietnam historians as the turning point in American support for that war. While we in fact WON every major engagement of that war, these victories came at horrid costs - costs that the American public was palpably unwilling to pay.
THAT is the deciding factor. When the moms and dads of our young soldiers no longer are willing to support the mission upon which Bush has committed them, when the 19-year-old with the rifle realizes that the nation no longer supports him, the people he is supposedly liberating want to kill him, and the politicians (including his commander-in-chief) are lying to him ...... hope dies.
I just spent a half-hour speaking with a man I have known for 20 years or more - but never knew was a Viet Nam vet. He was speaking to these issues in Iraq. I asked him if he saw any parallells to Tet .... and the tears flowed. He said it felt EXACTLY like Tet, shattering beyond belief. He said he feels for the young men caught in this situation, knows their horror and despair. It was utterly moving to see this composed, successful businessman come apart in my office.
He HATES Bush, despises him in a way that only one who lived through such a betrayal could. I dare to think that there are hundreds of thousands like him out there. I almost dare to hope.
THAT is the deciding factor. When the moms and dads of our young soldiers no longer are willing to support the mission upon which Bush has committed them, when the 19-year-old with the rifle realizes that the nation no longer supports him, the people he is supposedly liberating want to kill him, and the politicians (including his commander-in-chief) are lying to him ...... hope dies.
I just spent a half-hour speaking with a man I have known for 20 years or more - but never knew was a Viet Nam vet. He was speaking to these issues in Iraq. I asked him if he saw any parallells to Tet .... and the tears flowed. He said it felt EXACTLY like Tet, shattering beyond belief. He said he feels for the young men caught in this situation, knows their horror and despair. It was utterly moving to see this composed, successful businessman come apart in my office.
He HATES Bush, despises him in a way that only one who lived through such a betrayal could. I dare to think that there are hundreds of thousands like him out there. I almost dare to hope.
