Quagmire Redux

Caught the Kennedys programme on PBS’ American Experience last night, which proved to be more than just a routine history refresher. It neatly coincided with this article over at Salon I read yesterday (if link no worky, it’s in News & Politics, titled “Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. President”). How? Well I’m so glad you asked.

There’s been some talk, maybe even on this blog already, about how Iraq is starting to feel, look and sound a whole lot like ‘Nam. The Salon article goes into the obvious differences between the two, but also points out some eerie similarities, mostly with the speeches coming out of Washington now and then.

Early on in The Kennedys, there’s a televised 1963 interview JFK has with Walter Conkrite at the Kennedy compound where he is asked about the future of ‘Nam. JFK tells Conkrite something to the effect of “we want to see the Vietnamese government overseen by its own citizens as soon as possible” but then gives a foreshadowing of what was to come by stating (again, paraphrased) “however, this country is important to the future of democracy in the region and we will not turn our back and leave - we will do whatever it takes to stay in the country and ensure that democracy is put in place.” Sound familiar?

I think we have progressed enough in our involvement in Iraq for the ‘Nam similarities to be more than just left-wing alarmist yammering. We’re in real danger of repeating a historical mistake. Of course, Bush didn’t learn his history - this morning he’s across the pond making speeches and corralling Blair into “standing firm” with him and saying the same things we said 40 years ago. In 2015, after the 48,000th death, after the last blackhawk pulls out of the American embassy in Iraq with the last Americans on board, after our country’s economy is in the shitter to stay, maybe we’ll get a speech from one of the Bush twins like RFK’s stating that “we were wrong.” And maybe I’ll fly to the moon tomorrow to get a few rocks.

Posted by k-pho at November 19, 2003 11:08 AM