Vietnam and Iraq- The Recurring Logic of War
Vietnam and Iraq
The U.S invasion of Vietnam began in 1962. Forty years later, it was the invasion of Iraq. The similarities are striking. Here are some.
Lyndon Johnson, 1966: “If we don’t stop the Reds in South Vietnam, tomorrow they will be in Hawaii, and next week they will be in San Francisco.”
George W Bush, 2003: “Our military is confronting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other places so our people will not have to confront terrorist violence in New York or St. Louis or Los Angeles.”
In 1966 Lyndon Johnson alleged that a North Vietnamese boat attacked a U.S. vessel in the Gulf of Tonkin. It turned out to be false but a believing Congress--with only two dissents-- passed a resolution sanctioning Johnson’s war plans. George W. Bush justified invading Iraq because it brimmed with WMD (false); it was an imminent threat to the U.S. (false); it had been trying to buy nuclear material from Niger (false); links existed between Iraq and Al Qaeda (false); victory would be a Bush pal called “a cakewalk.” (false).
The corporate owned media not only endorsed both invasions but dispatched its big names to give favorable coverage. Walter Cronkite of CBS joined a flight crew in a bombing run over North Vietnam.
Ted Koppel of ABC joined an Army convoy in Iraq. Wearing military fatigues, neither media star asked hard questions of their new war buddies.
Lyndon Johnson vowed to stay the course in Vietnam. On January 12, 1967, he told Congress: “We face more costs, more loss and more agony.” On July 14, 2004, Donald Rumsfeld said “Are more people going to be killed? You bet.” Twelve days earlier Bush said: “Bring ‘em on. We got the force necessary.”
America’s knowledge of Vietnam’s culture, history, language, literature and religions was nil. Ignorance then about a Buddhist country is matched now by ignorance of an Islamic country with roots in the 7,000 Mesopotamian civilization.
The upper class enclaves of Chevy Chase, La Jolla, Grosse Point and Scarsdale were not the military’s manpower base for Vietnam nor are they for Iraq.
Robert McNamara, a prime architect of the Vietnam War, left to head the World Bank. Paul Wolfowitz, a prime promoter of the Iraq war, left to head the World Bank. Both men, well-educated intellectuals, left government to think of ways to better the lot of people after first using their minds on how best to efficiently kill people.
A leading Congressional voice to stop funding the Vietnam War was Sen. George McGovern. The strongest voice to stop funding the Iraq War is Rep. Jim McGovern..