War Stories

TOne thing I don’t quite understand with Iraq is what it is we’re going to win. The most common metric (there’s that “M” word again) I hear when I ask pro-war people this question is something along the lines of, “when we can leave with a stable government and without massive bloodshed and ethic cleansing.” A corollary I often hear is that leaving—à la Bush’s new argument—would be a strategic blunder comparable to how withdrawing from Vietnam ruined America.

Early in the winter, twenty years ago in a small living room on the Argentine Pampa, a family I don't remember had another guest that evening besides myself and my missionary companion. The old man, upon learning that I was an American, was thrilled to meet me. He had been a soldier in the Italian army in the Second World War and had been captured and interred in Texas as a prisoner. "It was great there," he effused. "I would go back in a second if I could. As a prisoner again if I had to." Never before did I so swell with pride for my nation.

Some British born humorist over at the HuffPo is calling for General Pace to remove President Bush from his elected duties as Commander-in-Chief thereby removing the military from civilian control.

But while that PR machine cranks out the lie that Kermit the Frog is writing bad lines, another is turning loose another message issued by an Iraqi war veteran who lost his legs in Iraq. Utilizing imagery from the 9-11 attacks that have nothing to do with Iraq. Because that old lie still has 2 out of 5 Americans convincingly deceived.

Vietnamese are pissed off at Bush’s Vietnam remarks:

America’s past wars have usually required a tremendous sacrifice of life. 13,000 of the 78,000 soldiers in the Mexican-American War died. Over 360,000 soldiers died in the Civil War. About 115,000 died in World War I, 405,000 in World War II, and 36,000 in the Korean War. If Iraq were truly like Vietnam, we would be on schedule to lose 58,000 over ten years rather than about 8,000.

Nice! We toured the rest of the ship, including the Tomahawk launchers - Giggity! - chaff launchers, and the bridge (below). It was an all-inclusive tour that lasted about two hours, instead of the usual hour and a half. Luckily, we were graced with a Korean War veteran who was an ensign aboard the New Jersey at the time. Whatever detail John missed - and there weren't many - the veteran gladly provided. The tour was not only educational, but damned entertaining! I would highly recommend it to anyone.

In other words, while Geren is singling out the retired General Kensinger for a slap on the wrist, considering he admitted to reporters the man deliberately deceived investigators and the press to cover his own ass, and while he admits the Army failed at every level in handling the affair appropriately, he still can’t bring himself to say anyone was really at fault.

New york Times, Rumsfeld Doubles Estimate for Cost of Troops in Iraq, July 10, 2003

I believe so. At the end of my term as President, my mom passed away after a long battle with cancer. She was single mother of two who lost her husband in the Vietnam War and these life challenges have instilled in me a sense of civic duty to help others.

Frequently these days, I get both discouraged and bored by the pointlessness and repetitiveness of the blogosphere and grow tired of responding to the same arguments of the war party. Thankfully, Donkey Cons co-author Robert Stacy McCain has said something new. If I understand McCain correctly, he is embracing a comparison of the Iraq quagmire and the First World War:

Kissinger in the position of National Security Adviser—not Secretary of State—negotiated the "peace accord" with North Vietnam:

In an article in the NY Times entitled A War We Might Just Win Michael E. O’Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack report unequivocally military progress in Iraq. Not since Walter Cronkite changed the narrative on the Vietnam war have I seen such a shift coming from an opinion leader in the MSM - particularly one that has been consistently against the Iraq war in its editorial policies.