Lesson from Vietnam

Henry Kissinger has learned, thank goodness, from the disastrous pullout from Vietnam.

For a decision to withdraw substantial U.S. forces while the war continues is a potentially fateful event. It affects the calculations of insurgents and government forces alike, so that the definition of progress becomes nearly as much a psychological as a military judgment. Every soldier withdrawn represents a larger percentage of the remaining total. The capacity for offensive action of the remaining forces shrinks. Once the process is started, it runs the risk of operating by momentum rather than by strategic analysis, and that process is increasingly difficult to reverse.

While leftists only see QUAGMIRE as the lesson of Vietnam, more intelligent people learned 1) that you have to fight to win, not to maintain a status quo, and 2) what Kissinger said, if you pull out without making sure your ally can stand up to the enemy, you deserve the blame if it then gets conquered.

This war is no longer against Iraqi resistance. It has become more like Vietnam in that the resistance is a proxy for Syria and Iran. They should be notified that we will not respect their borders if they continue to send money, weapons and fighters into Iraq. This is not a time to be setting dates for withdrawal; it's a time for America to get tough. If the Pentagon hasn't figured that out, we need to start firing generals and admirals until we find a few Pattons, Shermans and Grants. Everybody except the Vietnamophobics pays lip service to "we can't afford to lose this," but our media are drip, drip, dripping the message that this is a lost cause, despite the fact that more Americans are killed or injured by guns in this country than there are casualties in Iraq.

The Bush team needs to go on the offensive. If Rumsfeld has decided that this is unwinnable, Bush should replace him. I've been hearing that Rumsfeld has lost his resolve in this fight. I find that hard to believe. If we send more troops, they should be focused on sealing the borders of the country and not granting sanctuary to foreign fighters in Syria or Iran.