Iraq: Learning lesson of Vietnam all over again
"After a rousing July 4th holiday weekend, complete with flag-waving, fireworks, assorted burned meat products and a wealth of patriotic speeches, it is time to come back to the harsh realities of this earth and our role in it in the fifth year of this new century and new millennium. Anyone who writes critically of the conduct of the war in Iraq is asked, over and over, why we focus on the bad news and never write the good news about that country, its people and our soldiers who are caught in the middle of a very bloody birth of some version of representative government. The truth is that every time we sit down to analyze what is going on in Iraq the results are seriously depressing. At least Rumsfeld now knows how deep a swamp Iraq has become and recently acknowledged that this struggle, and the American military combat role, could drag on for many years. That's more than can be said of his bosses, President Bush and Vice President Cheney, whose recent remarks on Iraq and the war range from the president's continued mantra "stay the course" to the veep's absurd characterization of the daily din of terrorist bombings as the last gasps of a defeated enemy. On this one, we are better off believing Rumsfeld's analysis of where we are and where we are going and that it could take many years: Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Still it begs the question whether the secretary of defense really believes that the next president or two or the American people will continue to provide blank checks for someone else's mistake." Italy is pulling out its troops from Iraq this year. Britain may not be far behind. Isn't it time the US starts thinking about an exit strategy?
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