Blatant Reality

Joseph Bell, in an article on OpinionEditorials.com, lamented over America’s politicians inability to see what a premature withdrawal from Iraq would do to the credibility of our War on Terror.

What is lost in the debate about timetables, withdrawal and the effectiveness of the government in Baghdad is the overriding reality that there is a war going on in Iraq and the conclusion of that war will determine in large part the shape of the Middle East, the next phase of the war against the global terrorism network, the strength and influence of al Qaeda and America’s leadership role on the international stage.

 

During an August 22 speech in Kansas City, Missouri, President Bush said America’s enemies have a firm understanding of history. He said, “In an interview with a Pakistani newspaper after the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden declared that ‘the American people had risen against their government’s war in Vietnam. And they must do the same today.’ …Here at home some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility – but the terrorists see it differently.”

 

No doubt America’s enemies also remember that in the aftermath of Washington’s abandonment of Vietnam, America’s adversaries sprang into action across the globe. Max Boot, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, recently observed, “In the late 1970s America’s enemies seized power in countries from Mozambique to Iran to Nicaragua. American hostages were seized aboard the SS Mayaguez (off Cambodia) and in Tehran. The Red Army invaded Afghanistan. It is impossible to prove the connection with the Vietnam War, but there is little doubt that the enfeeblement of a superpower encouraged our enemies to undertake acts of aggression that they might have otherwise shied away from.”

 

There are a number of parallels between Vietnam and Iraq. In the case of Vietnam, American politicians forced a withdrawal of U.S. forces at a time when South Vietnam was becoming able to defend itself with negligible U.S. ground support. Boot wrote that by 1972 much of the South was considered secure and South Vietnamese forces were able to turn back the Easter Offensive with U.S. air support but with minimal U.S. ground assistance.

 

Boot concluded, rightly, “The danger is that American politicians will prematurely pull the plug in Iraq as they did in Vietnam. If they do so, the consequences will be even worse since Iraq is much more important strategically than Vietnam ever was