Iraq-nam

“Iraq is Vietnam.”

Right! says the Administration: we are winning the war but just like Vietnam, the Democrats will cut off support for our troops and the struggling government. This is Henry Kissinger's version of the history of Vietnam – we (actually, he) won the war but Congress withdrew support too early. Translation: stay the course despite the undeniable evidence of failure.

Right! Say the Democrats, we are bogged down in a hopeless war and should either change course dramatically or just leave ASAP. As John Kerry said about Vietnam: “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” Translation: cut and run despite the likelihood that this will produce a humanitarian and geopolitical nightmare.

Wrong! I say: Vietnam was a minor country, technologically backward and on the edge of nowhere. Iraq is a major country, technologically capable, in a fragile region and possessor of critical oil resources. The global economy will be hurt – and terrorists helped – by our rushed withdrawal. Translation: the consequences of failure in Iraq are much worse than they were in Vietnam.

After Gulf War I, George the First encouraged the Shiites to rise up against Saddam Hussein, suggesting that we would help them. They did but we didn't, and they died by the tens of thousands when Hussein brutally suppressed the uprising. George II started Gulf War II, which deposed Hussein and encouraged the most noble and self-sacrificing Iraqis to risk everything to build a democratic and multi-ethnic nation. But the appalling ineptitude of the Bush administration has ensured that any hope for a new Iraq – always faint – is now almost certainly gone.

In the end, we will abandon these brave people, leaving them at the mercy of the lowest and most despicable among them, just as we did the Shiites and the Vietnamese. That's how Iraq is like Vietnam.

Cheerleader-in-Chief

Anyone who thinks George W. Bush has suddenly started pondering the similarity between Vietnam and Iraq should take a deep breath. The world was not turned upside down overnight. He is merely practicing the new party line. It goes like this:

the insurgents know about the election;
the insurgents want the Democrats to win;
you should not want what the insurgents want;
you should vote Republican.

Ok, it's doesn't even rhyme, but given the current state of Republican fortunes, it almost makes sense and certainly gives cheer.

But seriously, all successful insurgencies have common themes, whether they are Vietnamese, Shiite, or the Founding Fathers of America. They make the controlling power hurt. It cannot be denied: the US is losing people and money at an unsustainable rate. What are our options? Sadly, we will accept “cut and run” with a James Baker 3rd imprimatur and Nixon echo and learn to like it ... after the election and another few hundred or thousand American lives.

Korean Mushrooms Glow in the Dark

North Korea exploded a nuclear bomb – a small one that was more “fizzle” than shizzle but still scary. Five years after Bush placed it on the "axis of evil", North Korea has gone from a wanna-be to a bona fide member of the nuclear club. Containment is another miserable failure of the Bush administration. Why did this happen? Three reasons: pride, fear and desperation - theirs and ours.

Pride. Their national pride is boosted by this demonstration of technical skill. The Bush administration is too proud to abandon even clearly failed policies – in this case, the refusal to negotiate face-to-face with the North Koreans. They have crossed line after "line in the sand" without consequences, yet Secretary Rice has the temerity to draw another at them supplying the bomb to others. Maybe she and her boss should coordinate better – Bush says he doesn't accept the status quo. Instead of drawing (another) line in the sand, he has his head in the sand.

Fear. Having seen what the US did against Iraq, every dictator in the world knows that conventional arms won't deter the US. The North Koreans can hold the South hostage even without a proven missile. The fear of a nuclear armed Korean missile is unfounded but played up by the Bush administration seeking to justify the white elephant missile defense system. The fear of adverse consequences have been gutted by this administration's decision to welcome India and Pakistan back as favored nations despite their violations of the non-proliferation treaty.

Desperation. The North Koreans are desperately poor and isolated. This administration stopped food and fuel oil shipments, sinking the poorest even further. The Bush administration is also desperate and growing even more desperate with every report of a probable Democratic take over of Congress.

Diplomacy is the sole arena that this administration won't “go it alone”. We go to war practically alone. We ignore the world on climate change. We unilaterally abandon international rules on prisoners of war. But we refuse to negotiate. President Kennedy said

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

Kennedy and his administration were capable, confident people who were comfortable with free exchanges of ideas, not cronies who are (rightly) afraid that they are out of their depth. The current crop rely on bluster to silence opposition. This is lethal against their arch enemies, the Democrats, but impotent against the real enemies of America. A measure of how low we've sunk is that former Secretary of State (and permanent Bush family consigliere) James Baker 3rd, who led the illegal Iran-Contra idiocy of the Reagan-Bush administrations, looks like an eminence grise.

Secretary Rice, Representative Bolton, and the administration are thrilled that they got a UN agreement supporting sanctions against North Korea. These sanctions will block luxury items shipped to North Korea on the grounds that they are destined solely for dictator Kim Jong Il. As if we could actually regulate the tiny trade volume this represents! Let's call this is the Marie Antoinette 'solution': let them (not) eat cake.

Amish Amen

The families of the school girls killed in Pennsylvania are not only mourning their dead but also praying for the killer and his family. This evidence of profound belief and grace can restore one's faith in humanity, so sorely tried in such cases. These are clearly people who know the meaning of the phrases, such as the “sanctity of life”, that are tossed around so casually and often cynically by our politicians. May their moral consistency be a guide for us all.