Iraq is to Vietnam as Dubya is to WTF!?!?
Just as effective democracy assumes and requires the consent of the governed, so does an effective analogy assume and require a common set of beliefs and experiences among its intended audience. This week, George W. Bush finally made the analogous connection he has so vehemently avoided between Iraq and Vietnam. But, as he has done with Biblical interpretation and the English language, the boy has badly mangled the meaning.
On August 22, Bush used his speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars to yet again to "reframe" the Iraq debate. How long can you "reframe" something before you realize that the problem is your crappy art and not the choice of a speckled mahogany vs. fluted sterling silver enclosure? Answer: at least four years.
After rehashing freedom-loving, fascist-hating arguments previously applied to American mid-century intervention in Europe, Shrubya used Microsoft Word's search-and-replace feature to tell the story with Asians. That's when he broke out the surprise Vietnam analogy.
However, it was neither the well-understood Vietnam-as-quagmire nor the equally-applicable Vietnam-as-conflict-he-avoided that the president relied upon. No, Bush rested his latest justification on Vietnam-as-lost-because-we-didn't -stay-long-enough. Yeah, that was just the problem. Think about it. Had we stayed longer, we could have killed every last person in Vietnam and won the damn thing, but those perpetual back-stabbers in Washington again failed to support the troops.
Bush's strategery in this case, as with global warming, evolution and other facts, depends on creating doubt. He said things like:
1. "Now, I know some people doubt the universal appeal of liberty, or worry that the Middle East isn't ready for it."
2. "Others believe that America's presence is destabilizing, and that if the United States would just leave a place like Iraq those who kill our troops or target civilians would no longer threaten us."
3. "Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility, but the terrorists see things differently."
4. "Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left."
No, there isn't. This is a complex literary device known as "bullshit," which is employed all too often by people who don't know what they're talking about. I, too, can invoke the tree hugging, ape-descending, freedom-hating "some" and "others" to create a "legitimate" debate where none legitimately exists. Watch me work my magic:
1. Some can argue that babies come from a magical stork that shoves the fetus into a woman's body moments before birth then teleports back to its home in the trash can where Oscar the Grouch lives.
2. Others believe that babies are always inside of women, remote controlling them like that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain, Krang, the talking, fluid-dripping, pink brain that installed himself inside an ogre's abdomen in order to defeat our turtle heroes.
3. There is a legitimate debate about how a woman becomes pregnant.
For Bush to sell the Iraq war by using America's most shameful military expedition of the 20th century shows just how desperate he is. He's not just drinking the Kool-Aid, he's freebasing the powder.
Follow Baratunde Thurston on Twitter: www.twitter.com/baratunde
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If Iraq is like Vietnam in Bush's 'Through the Looking Glass" world, does this mean France will come to our rescue?
yes, just like WWII. it is a worldwide neocon conspiracy. we are screwed if we do not rise up and speak out.
There is one area where Little George has a unique insight into the Vietnam War. Maybe that war would have gone better if there hadn't been able-bodied men using family connections to evade combat in the Texas Air National Guard and even then not being fit for duty or not showing up.
Or maybe he is saying that his own personal dereliction of duty is the reason that the US lost both wars. A refreshing moment of responsibility.
Peter! purrrfect!!!!!!
". . . he is saying that his own personal dereliction of duty is the reason that the US lost both wars. A refreshing moment of responsibi
AWOL from both when the Nation needed him . . .
"This is a complex literary device known as "bullshit""
Succinct! This is destined to become the aphorism of the new century. Apply liberally (in both senses of the term) whenever another blathering neocon pundit appears on a talkshow.
Or just simply Bu$hit.
I'm thinking there's a line in here somewhere about Bu$h and freebasing being analogous to Richard Pryor but Richard Pryor at least straightened himself out and was funny as hell -- two things Bu$hit cannot claim.
Bush is funny. Just in a weird, who is this idiot way. Not in an actual speak truth to power way like Pryor.
You used two unnecessary letters
Dubya is to F,
OK I admit I could use a few more letters too....GD SOB MF F F F F F!
Iraq is like Viet Nam in that Bush and all the other elitists have not had to sacrifice a thing and have made fortunes over the sacrifices of others.
How about the next time they want to start a war the President has to engage in the first full day of fighting, like they get to throw out the first ball beginning the baseball season.
Game over.
The War is going very well for Bush, the Bush Crime family, the Cheney's and all their buddies in the Oil and arms industries.
Who cares about dead troops - look at all the money that Dick Cheney and Halliburton have
made !!!
They destroyed this nation, but they made a bundle of money doing it !!!
BINGO!!!! Mission accomplished.
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Iraq is like Viet Nam in that Bush and all the other elitists have not had to sacrifice a thing and have made fortunes over the sacrifices of others.
How about the next time they want to start a war the President has to engage in the first full day of fighting, like they get to throw out the first ball beginning the baseball season.
Game over.
"How about the next time they want to start a war the President has to engage in the first full day of fighting, like they get to throw out the first ball beginning the baseball season."
Add to that that the children or grandchildren of all members of the executive and legislative branches must be among the first to go and must be on the front lines.
What I would like is that the next time we declare war, that it be after a national referendum. A national vote: Shall the US go to war against X? At least that way we would all have a say, and then have some control of the outcome. But that would be democratic, it would never work....
I myself fully intend to joint the 2nd Congressional Brigade. Or maybe the 2nd Halliburton, I'm not sure yet.
great analysis - "freebasing the powder"!
i was so hoping that some of the veterans still capable of independent thought would show some fire during the speech. no such luck.
Where's The Feet?
Yeah. The reason why the veterans applauded was because they are "incapable of independent thought". Not because they agree with him......
I thought that the huffpo was comparing Iraq to Vietnam for a while now. Now you think they are nothing alike?
lack of independent thought and agreeing with Bush are the exact same thing. If you don't get it, then you don't.
There are similarities, just not the lies that Bush told. Every word out of his smirk is a lie, including and & the.
The reason is very simple:
Ultra-patriotism.
This is a major problem Americans unfortunately have instilled in them from birth to death. It blinds them to the realities of the world, and has been used effectively against them by this so-called "administration". Anyone who does not show respect and deferrence, is branded unpatriotic and un-American. The Germans went throught this exact same brainwashing. Look at the similarity to the way Americans view their flag (and the incredible number of ways it is seen and viewed every day by them), and the way the German citizens were inundated with the swaztika flag of the Nazi party. It is a form of brainwashing through allegiance or ultra-patriotism. It is the American's own undoing.
_
There is a wonderful poster whose text is worth a read here:
THE EARLY WARNING SIGNS OF FASCISM:
POWERFUL AND CONTINUING NATIONALISM
DISDAIN FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
IDENTIFICATION OF ENEMIES AS A UNIFYING CAUSE
SUPREMACY OF THE MILITARY
RAMPANT SEXISM
CONTROLLED MASS MEDIA
OBSESSION WITH NATIONAL SECURITY
RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT INTERTWINED
CORPORATE POWER PROTECTED
LABOR POWER SUPPRESSED
DISDAIN FOR INTELLECTUALS AND THE ARTS
OBSESSION WITH CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
RAMPANT CRONYISM AND CORRUPTION
FRAUDULENT ELECTIONS
Seems like shrubya's got most of his bases covered.
"Yeah, that was just the problem. Think about it. Had we stayed longer, we could have killed every last person in Vietnam and won the damn thing"
Something tells me we're going to see how this strategy plays out this time around...A
Yes, because nothing fills the other populations of the world with admiration and warm feelings for the Americans like wholesale massacre and carnage. Give me a break!
Actually, we DID kill everyone in N Vietnam at least. That was a calculation somebody published in the late 60's as I recall, by adding up the Pentagon body counts and ringing the bell when it finally equaled the population.
Iraq:Vietnam as Bush:
a. intelligence
b. competence
c. honesty
d. Christian goodness
e. failure
If you are paying attention, you'd know "e" is the only wrong answer.
OMG! Thanks for the laugh, this is the best thing I've read in a while! I hope we get more from you.
Of course, one of the things he failed to mention is that Vietnam was a trumped up war just like this one in Iraq! Nor, did he mention that “we’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here.” Nor, if Vietnam falls, so will the rest of SE Asia, that old “domino” theory.. Those were the drum beats to justify staying in Vietnam and the same ones, warmed over, being used to stay the course in Iraq. Guess what: we did leave Vietnam and not a single one of the Viet Cong followed us home. Nor, did the rest of SE Asia fall like so many dominos. For Bush to use Vietnam as a comparison to Iraq is nothing short of a disgrace! The man is living in another world, one of lies, deceit, misleading, and so on. The real reason for being in Iraq is OIL and anyone with a grain of sense can see that.
One of the ‘stanch’ supporters, Australia, has now admitted that oil was an issue in determing to support Mr. Bush’s war.
Published on 5 Jul 2007 by The Age. Archived on 5 Jul 2007.
Nelson: Oil a factor in Australia's Iraq deployment
by AAP
The Howard Government has today admitted that securing oil supplies is a factor in Australia's continued military involvement in Iraq.
Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said today oil was a factor in Australia's contribution to the unpopular war, as "energy security" and stability in the Middle East would be crucial to the nation's future.
See more at:
http://www
And you can google Australia and support for Iraq war for more.
I doubt we will see the same admission from THIS administration, given the continuous lies that have been heaped on the American people.
Thanks for the link. What a shock that the PM denied everything the Defense Secretary said... Guess he (the DS) missed his daily serving of Kool-Aid.
Most viewed on MSNBC.com
Updated: 2 hours, 56 minutes ago
One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted.
Or worse.
For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods.
Story continues below ↓advertisement
Ultimate Getaway
There were times, huddled on the floor in solitary confinement with that head-banging music blaring dawn to dusk and interrogators yelling the same questions over and over, that Vance began to wish he had just kept his mouth shut.
He had thought he was doing a good and noble thing when he started telling the FBI about the guns and the land mines and the rocket-launchers — all of them being sold for cash, no receipts necessary, he said. He told a federal agent the buyers were Iraqi insurgents, American soldiers, State Department workers, and Iraqi embassy and ministry employees.
The seller, he claimed, was the Iraqi-owned company he worked for, Shield Group Security Co.
“It was a Wal-Mart for guns,” he says. “It was all illegal and everyone knew it.”
So Vance says he blew the whistle, supplying photos and documents and other intelligence to an FBI agent in his hometown of Chicago because he didn’t know whom to trust in Iraq.
For his trouble, he says, he got 97 days in Camp Cropper, an American military prison outside Baghdad that once held Saddam Hussein, and he was classified a security detainee.
Also held was colleague Nathan Ertel, who helped Vance gather evidence documenting the sales, according to a federal lawsuit both have filed in Chicago, alleging they were illegally imprisoned and subjected to physical and mental interrogation tactics “reserved for terrorists and so-called enemy combatants
No noble outcom
This is an important story. I am providing a link to an MSM report.
http://www
And what can we do about this miscarriage of the law?
Glad that Vance and Ertel have filed suit. Seems like it should be ironclad. I'd love to see them interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! That would serve to bring what happened to Mr. Vance and Mr. Ertel under even more public scrutiny. The more people know about this, the harder it will be for the current regime to screw them further. Makes you wonder how many more Vances and Ertels are out there that we know nothing about.
The VFW, American Legion, PVA and all the other so called "service organizations" are just one big joke. They are basically worthless in helping Veterans with their VA benefits (all they do is agree with any decision that is made, they are not intelligent enough to know the law USC Title 38). On top of that, all they really like to do is drink and tell you what "hero's they were while service on the 581st Mess Kit Repair Company. Real combat veterans avoid these phonies like the plague.
americanwhocares, I'm a recipicent of somebody who after banging my head v. the system trying to get my deserved benefits finally succeeded after a service organization had one of their service officiers help me. So you are WRONG, saying their worthless. Again, just as in anything else in life, you have some service officiers better then other ones. But you are wrong. I'm proof of that.
Bush had a chance to serve in Viet Nam, so why didn't he?
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