Similarities Between Vietnam And Iraq Abound As US Uses Swift Boats Once Again

by Steve

Bush and his sycophants decry any suggestion of similarities between Iraq and Vietnam, but John Burns’ first-person account of current operations there makes the case pretty well. Hell, we’ve resorted to using the latest version of swift boats to trek up the Euphrates River looking for insurgents. Plus, seeing the problem we had in recruiting everyday Iraqis for the new security force and police, only to see them flee, lay down arms, or turn those weapons against us, we rightly decided to change our approach and focus on recruiting the best of Saddam’s old forces for anti-insurgency training and operations.

However, as Burns notes this has now not worked either as these former Saddam officers bristle at working side by side with Iraqi commoners, and display an elitism reminiscent of the South Vietnamese aristocracy decades ago. As a result, they don’t follow directions from the Americans, and still harbor ill will towards us, as if their lot would be better from those they are searching for. It has all the markings of a replay of the last major mistake this country made over four decades ago. Plus, when out of earshot of their superiors, our forces tell the NYT reporter the Iraqi forces have thrown in the towel.