Doc bao gium ban- An American newspaper...

Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
The US war in Iraq increasingly mirrors the Vietnam tragedy.

The US war in Iraq increasingly mirrors the Vietnam tragedy. George Bush's stubborn advocacy of the occupation is strikingly similar to Lyndon Johnson's obstinate refusal to consider withdrawal. LBJ justified escalation on the basis of the "domino theory," arguing that if Vietnam fell to the Communists, all of South East Asia would soon be in the hands of godless barbarians. Tuesday night, Bush presented his own domino scenario, contending that if Iraq fell, then other nations of the Middle East would collapse and terrorists would be emboldened to strike the US. "There is only one course of action against them; to defeat them abroad before they attack us at home."
Bush insists that our efforts are on the right track, says he is "pleased with the progress," and promises that if we persevere there will eventually be a stable democracy in Iraq. For the majority of Americans these statements have little credibility - 52 percent now believe the war in Iraq has not contributed to long-term US security. In the Democratic response to the President's weekly radio address, former national security adviser Zbiegniew Brzezinski observed that the war "threatens to become a quagmire," a descriptor increasingly used to describe a situation where the harder the US tries to succeed, the deeper we sink.
From Bush's perspective, "staying the course" in Iraq makes sense. The President has accomplished his agenda by sticking to his guns and bullying dissidents to fall in line.
Congress and the American people must force the Administration to change our Iraq policy. First, consider the similarities between this war and that in Vietnam. In both cases the invasion was based upon a misconception: in Vietnam, the "domino" theory and in Iraq, the notion that there was a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Both conflicts escalated based upon a lie: in Vietnam, that our forces had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin; in Iraq, that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. There are other similarities, including unexpected casualties and costs, and massive oil reserves.
What is strikingly different about the two wars is the threat to homeland security. The US mainland was never threatened by the Vietnamese; no matter how badly that war went. Americans never dreaded that the Viet Cong might explode a dirty bomb in one of our cities. As the Iraq war grinds on, it increases the likelihood of a devastating terrorist attack on the US. A recent congressional study found a heightened risk of assault with WMD's.
Americans have the foreboding that our security is jeopardized by the occupation, a sense not shared by the Bush Administration. Rather than taking the war to the enemy, we are inciting them to attack us. In May, a British think-tank survey found that Bush Iraq policies are promoting the cause of Al Qaeda. House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, recently observed, ""This war in Iraq is a grotesque mistake; it is not making America safer. We may be waist deep in the Big Muddy, but that doesn't mean that we have to push on".