Posted on 07/04/2003 10:23:05 AM PDT by dalereed
Edited on 07/04/2003 12:02:29 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
During a vice presidential visit to San Diego in 1970, the late Spiro Agnew famously remarked, "In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who served alongside Agnew in the Nixon administration, might be inclined to agree with his one-time colleague. Especially after his Pentagon press briefing this week.
"Can you remind us again why this is not a quagmire?" asked one wag. "And can you tell us why you're so reluctant to say that what's going on in Iraq now is a guerrilla war?"
A fellow wag followed up. Could it be that Secretary Rumsfeld, that Gen. Richard Meyers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are loath to concede that Iraq has disintegrated into a guerrilla war because it "begins to bring to mind the last one that the United States had, which was Vietnam?"
"Which," the wag added, sarcastically, "I think most people can agree was not a resounding success."
A lay observer might conclude from the line of questioning that more than a few members of the media are almost hopeful that the transformation of Iraq into a peaceful democracy goes badly. That they are still bummed that the United States was able to turn Saddam Hussein out of power in less than a month and with far fewer casualties than much of the anti-war media predicted.
That they derive some perverse consolation in the ludicrous notion that the United States suddenly finds itself facing a guerrilla war in Iraq; a quagmire of Vietnam proportions.
Rumsfeld suffered the anti-war wags more gladly than they deserved.
He explained that there is no organized insurgency in Iraq; that the sporadic attacks against American troops are being carried out by disparate groups with different agendas. That includes looters, "who take advantage of opportunities that exist from time to time," according to Rumsfeld, as well criminals who were freed from Iraqi prisons, "tens of thousands" put out on the street.
There also are the remnants of Saddam's regime, said the defense secretary. Including "the Baathists, the Fedayeen Saddam, some army people, some Special Republican Guard, some SSO (Special Security Organization) people."
Then there are foreign infiltrators, terrorist types from other countries who crossed the Syrian border into Iraq, as well as Iranian-backed Shiites.
Day by day, U.S. forces root out those elements. Like the raid this past weekend, Operation Desert Scorpion, which, according to Meyers, resulted in the detention of more than 1,300 individuals, and confiscation of 500 AK-47s, more than 200 hand grenades and 100 rocket-propelled grenades.
Such raids will continue, assured Rumsfeld and Meyers, until Iraq is secure and safe.
As to the suggestion that Iraq has transmogrified into a latter-day Vietnam for the United States, Rumsfeld dismissed the cockeyed notion. "It's a different time," he said. "It's a different era. It's a different place."
Indeed, for the United States, the Vietnam War lasted the better part of nine years. More than 8.5 million Americans served in that war, some 58,193 of whom lost their lives.
U.S. forces have been in Iraq less than four months. Fewer than a quarter-million were needed to rout Saddam's army. And the U.S. military has suffered nearly 58,000 fewer deaths than in Vietnam.
Of course, the United States will be in Iraq for some time to come. President Bush acknowledged that this week when he said that the rebuilding of post-war Iraq, the orderly and peaceful transition from Saddam's despotic regime to Western-style democracy will be a "massive and long-term undertaking."
And, yes, there will be more U.S. casualties in Iraq, more deaths. That is regrettable. But it is absurd for anyone to even suggest that the numbers of casualties, of deaths, will be remotely close to the levels seen during the Vietnam War.
Though Iraq news coverage has been relentlessly negative in recent weeks, the American public remains positive.
Nearly six of 10 still think the situation in Iraq was worth going to war over, according to the latest Gallup Poll for CNN and USA Today. And nearly seven of 10 think it is worth having U.S. troops there now.
"There will be no return to tyranny in Iraq," President Bush said this week, "and those who threaten the order and stability of that country will face ruin just as surely as the regime they once served."
The American people apparently share the commander in chief's resolve.
Perkins can be reached via e-mail at .
Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Your a feudal kind of guy.
That's obscene.
How are American interests bolstered by that outcome? Not to mention the Iraqis who will now be in terror of "Warlords" and their thuggery.
You think "Warlords" are going to let private entrepreneurs run the oil program while they slaughter oxen and drink goats milk?
The Kurds are game. The Shiites are game. The Sunnis are game. A thousand terrorists need to be killed. They will be killed.
This is part of our ongoing war against terror. This is a strategic springboard. You don't agree, that's fine. It's a legitimate issue.
But don't misunderstand the resolve and commitment of our President, military and economic managers to make Iraq a stable bulwark against the Terror Network forever more. This is a checkpoint on the mission.
And, as you and I discussed way back last fall (My December 15 launch date was off a bit), North Korea is going to change or we'll change them. This Hair Club for Men reject fool is threatening our citizens with nuclear attack.
Iraq. Iran. North Korea. That's the life center of the international terror network. They go down, every other Muslim despot starts to revisit their M.O.
If we're lucky, Americans don't die by the tens of thousands in chemical, biological or nuclear attack on our shore again and again. That's the REAL GOAL here, we don't give a crap about Mullahs and Omans and Sheiks and Muftis. We care about Americans. Every thing Bush is making happen is to create a safer world for American citizens in our cities and towns. If the Iraqi people win, if the Iranian people win, the Afghani people win and North Korean people win .... well, that's advantageous for our security and that's just a WIN WIN gumbdrop rainbow outcome.
We're operating at the source of the cancer spread. It's ugly work, it's dangerous and soldiers will die in pursuit of the mission. This is for the survival and prosperous well-being of 270 million of us, so they are not dying in vain.
You place a lot of trust in "planners" and "experts" for our occupation in Iraq to be sucessful. I don't share your optimism in such big government notions- especially in a Islamic hell hole like Iraq.
So, Iraq was the fulcrum of Muslim pride and money and it all went to weaponry and intrigue. Cruel but strong psycho daddy's gone now, and the evil Islamist children are in disarray. The Roadmap to Peace has an opening of hope.
Iraq has the second or third largest oil reserves in the World. It has a well constructed pipeline delivery system. It has a world class oil terminal and a deep water port. It has fertile fields, a strong transportation infrastructure, mineral potential, adequate hospital assets and a hungry and hopeful citizenry who were TERRORIZED by that bastard and his henchmen for 34 years. 34 years in a Gulag more insular that Stalins Soviet Union. Give them a chance to emerge from their life view of imminent death.
Iraq and Iran are NOT Saudi Arabia or the Sudan. They are crouching economic tigers in that region absent dictators and genocide freaks. That's the key to driving the 8th Century murderers into the abyss.
There are very few...very few media pukes out there today that would be able to discuss any of the events or timeline of the Vietnam war. They have no clue of what went on and how much it differed from anything we did...and are doing...in Iraq. No clue whatsoever of the history of the country whose teet they suckle at and whose sons and daughters gave their all so that these idiots might continue their "nattering".
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