Vietnam, Iraq, and Sending a Message to Osama

Given the recent revisionism of the Vietnam War, I found this Op Ed by Rosa Brooks to make a lot of sense…

To Bush, the “unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America’s withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens.”

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Bush went on to assert that “another price to our withdrawal from Vietnam” was the rise of “the enemy we face in today’s struggle, those who came to our soil and killed thousands of citizens” on 9/11.

Yup — it’s so obvious! The U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam caused the rise of Al Qaeda — and, by extension, “our withdrawal from Vietnam” ultimately turned Iraq into “the central front” in “the war on terror.”

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How can we show the innocent civilians of Southeast Asia that we haven’t forgotten them and simultaneously send a message of resolve to the Iraqi people? How can we show Al Qaeda once and for all that the U.S. is not to be trifled with? … Re-invade Vietnam.

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