I Wrote Bush's War Words -- in 1965[LA TIMES Pushes the Vietnam Metaphor]

The Los Angeles Times ^ | July 3, 2005 | Ellsberg

[lonestar67]

IRAQ I Wrote Bush's War Words -- in 1965 By Daniel Ellsberg, Daniel Ellsberg worked in the State and Defense departments under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. He released the Pentagon Papers to the press in 1971. President Bush's explanation Tuesday night for staying the course in Iraq evoked in me a sense of familiarity, but not nostalgia. I had heard virtually all of his themes before, almost word for word, in speeches delivered by three presidents I worked for: John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. Not with pride, I recognized that I had proposed some of those very words myself. Drafting a speech on the Vietnam War for Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara in July 1965, I had the same task as Bush's speechwriters in June 2005: how to rationalize and motivate continued public support for a hopelessly stalemated, unnecessary war our president had lied us into.

[lonestar67]

IRAQ IS NOT VIETNAM:

1. Iraqis have long proven there ability to defend themselves. 2. US withdrawal would not lead to collapse-- our enemies would be annihilated (Sunnis et al). 3. MSM is breaking up and cannot maintain total block on US good news coming from the region, 4. No major power supports the terrorists in Iraq (i.e. China or Russia) 5. Terrorists have not won anything close to a military battle or encounter. 6. Domestic Iraqis hate the terrorists and Baathists. They will not help them and happily turn them in.

[minus_273]

lets see some obvious differncees.
1. no altrernative gov. In nam at least our enemies had an alternative they were pusing. What does al-queda offer?
2. we are fighting a minority in a minority. Sunnis arabs make 20% of iraq and a minority of them are helping al-queda
3. no draft. no one in iraq was forced to join the military against their will.

[26lemoncharlie]

The Left cannot sell the Vietnam metapohor, It was garbage then and it is GARBAGE NOW!! Only we are Wiser now!!

[doug from upland]

I thought Ellsberg was dead. All right then, he is not a dead traitor. He is a live one.

[BillyBoy]

Of course Iraq is just like Vietnam.

You know, cuz the first three weeks of the Vietnam war, we overran the country, and took control of Haoni, parading around Vietcong HQ (they surreneded en masse) Then within a few monthes we found Ho Chi Minh in a spider hole and arrested him for war crimes, the within a year we had a constitution in place for a free Vietnam and held democratic elections in North Vietman...

[buckeyesrule]

Iraq is like Vietnam is the sense that the most vocal elements of democrat party are rooting for the other side.

[atlanta67]

the day cannot come soon enough when the last memeber of the vietnam protestor generation is dead

[CyberAnt]

"Daniel Ellsberg"


The traitor speaks!

[Logophile]

Drafting a speech on the Vietnam War for Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara in July 1965, I had the same task as Bush's speechwriters in June 2005: how to rationalize and motivate continued public support for a hopelessly stalemated, unnecessary war our president had lied us into.

Apparently Mr. Ellsberg feel guilty about his previous work. However, he cannot make up for it by misrepresenting the current situation in Iraq.

[lawnguy]

Ben Stein has written a lot lately about how Nixon's America was the best hope VietNam ever had, and that his loss led to a generation of genocide and tragedy in the whole region.

Iraq is not VietNam, and even VietNam was nothing like the revisionists have portrayed.

[smoothsailing]

When the Left has to drag out a pathetic treasonous old fool to foment their fantasies, you know they know they've lost.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

IRAQ IS NOT VIETNAM:

1. Iraqis have long proven there ability to defend themselves. 2. US withdrawal would not lead to collapse-- our enemies would be annihilated (Sunnis et al). 3. MSM is breaking up and cannot maintain total block on US good news coming from the region, 4. No major power supports the terrorists in Iraq (i.e. China or Russia) 5. Terrorists have not won anything close to a military battle or encounter. 6. Domestic Iraqis hate the terrorists and Baathists. They will not help them and happily turn them in.

You left out one important, perhaps the most important statistic...The almost 1,700 US KIA since the Iraqi conflict began would have been accumulated in ONE MONTH at the peak of the Vietnam war. i can remember ol' Walter "Commiekite" giving the weekly casualty figures every Thursday evening on the CBS News.

People need to get a little perspective. As Nathan Bedford Forrest once said..."War means fightin', and fightin' means killin'"

BTW, i did NOT support the war, so this could be considered an objective look at matters.

[26lemoncharlie]

True Democracy cannot succed. We are a Republic, not a Democracy. The Domino theory of spreading Democracy instead of Communism, I'm sure, is in the air. The Domino theory was way before the Vietnam.

The spread of Communism, after WWII employed the Domino theory and was applied to eastern europe, Germany and the spread to Asia.

[Whispering Smith]

"Drafting a speech on the Vietnam War for Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara in July 1965..."
The war in Viet Nam got serious in August 1964 and this POS was ready to bail out in less than a year? I guess we can't do anything that might take longer than a TV season.

[AZLiberty]

Ellsberg needs to start seeing that psychiatrist again.

[Logophile]

Correction: Apparently Mr. Ellsberg feels guilty about his previous work.

[IronJack]

Daniel Ellsberg. For a second there, I was transported back to the Summer of Love. Strawberry Alarm Clock. Ten Years After at the Fillmore. Savoy Brown ...

Oh, man. It was SOOOOOoooooo grooooovy!

[xlib]

At least you were just transported back to the past; Ellsberg has obviously been living there all these years. How sad that his moment in the spotlight became his mental prison. How typical of old lefties.