As with Vietnam, the ugly argument over the war will ultimately have a cleansing effect on the U.S. <blockquote>"The Bush dead-enders. Although dwindling in number, President Bush's defenders will ascribe failure in Iraq to a loss of nerve, blaming media bias and liberal defeatists for sowing the erroneous impression that the war has become unwinnable. Bush loyalists will portray opposition to the war as tantamount to betraying the troops. Count on them to appropriate Ronald Reagan's description of Vietnam as "an honorable cause." Updating the "stab in the back" thesis, they will claim that a collapse of will on the home front snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Baghdad as surely as it did in Saigon."</blockquote>
"It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." – Donald Rumsfeld, 3/7/03 They've had not just 6 months, but 3 1/2 years to resolve this, and they've only made things worse. They have no one to blame but themselves. Read my sig.
Reminds me of a software project post mortem I attended. "We said that we could have this project done in a year. We didn't specify which year when we started and apparently it was this one."
After you lose your first war (Vietnam)...then your perfect season is over. Losing Iraq won't hurt as bad. Look on the bright side. We won in Grenada. Not bad for a Super Power.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dragonfly @ Nov 7 2006, 09:39 AM) [snapback]345019[/snapback]</div> Personally, I blame us, the American people. We either didn't vote, voted without thinking clearly, or we voted with a conscience but failed to rally others to vote with conscience. Have we held responsible any of the democrats who voted for the war? The "opposition party", responsible for checks and balances? We have yet to hold anyone accountable. It's very easy to find where others have failed, but far less useful than finding where we have personally failed; We at least have the power to change ourselves.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Display Name @ Nov 9 2006, 11:36 PM) [snapback]346738[/snapback]</div> I totally agree. It's one of the reasons I no longer like Hilary.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Display Name @ Nov 9 2006, 11:36 PM) [snapback]346738[/snapback]</div> While a small percentage of blame goes to the American people, a much larger percentage goes to the leadership of the United States that cynically and opportunistically took advantage of the general American people's fear and desire for vengence after 9/11 to embark the US on a course of their own self-serving personal agendas (be it a twisted ideology, political motivation, or mercenary) and will have negative US repercussions for years (if not decades) to come. It's so similiar to the Vietnam 'experience', that it simply boggles the mind that it could happen again in nearly the exact, same manner.
