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February 03, 2005
SHUT UP ABOUT THE "SUCCESS" OF THE IRAQI ELECTION!
When will the Republicans, Democrats, and alleged-journalists stop talking about how the "victory" of the elections in Iraq is a "symbol" of the success of the Iraq War?
First of all, it's not a success for the over 100,000 dead Iraqis. 100,000.
Second, is the U.S. occupation better than the Saddam occupation? Ask the 100,000 dead Iraqis, and, if they could talk, they would probably say "no." Here's a more CONTRASTING comparison: is the U.S. war/occupation better than the velvet revolution in Czechloslovakia? Because we COULD have backed a velvet revolution in Iraq.
Third, whether you agree with me about the above or not, you can't deny the parallels between these "victorious" elections and some elections held in Vietnam less than 40 years ago. Here are some tidbits from the NYT, circa 1967.
United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting...A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam.
Sound familiar?
(1967 NYT tip courtesy of Mr. Wiggles.)
Posted By John Christian Plummer | February 3, 2005 01:46 PM | DIGG ME!
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Comments
Ouch. I hope that things aren't that grim...
Posted by: Terence at February 4, 2005 07:05 PM
I'm afraid that things are looking far more grim in Iraq than they were in Vietnam. Remember, too, all the Vietnamese wanted was to rule their own country. But the fundamentalist Islamic movement has been unquestionably bolstered by our actions in Iraq, which Al Qaeda calls it's newest training ground; keep in mind that, before we invaded, Al Qaeda was not a presence in Iraq. And this movement doesn't just want us out of Iraq. They want us out of the entire middle east. They want Jihad. Which is why they are literally willing to commit suicide to kill the expansion of American/western power.
And if you look at the numbers of dead, the numbers of attacks, etc., we are in a far, far worse position than we were at this point in Vietnam. Put simply, we didn't have enough troops in Vietnam to "win" the war. The Pentagon experts estimate we need 10 to 1 ratio to win a guerilla war; Vietnam was 3 to 1 (US to Vietcong). Iraq is about less-than-1 to 1 (US to guerillas; they actually have more numbers, according to the Iraqi intelligence estimate).
It is far, far more grim.
Posted by: Plummer at February 5, 2005 01:31 AM
The American media, blind/deaf/dumb lapdogs of the presidential administration like never before, refuse to put the Iraqi elections into context, and continue to feed the Bush spin on them. They are being used to try to bolster the long-passed "Mission Accomplished" lie. But as the bombings continue, as the body bags keep coming back to our shores, as more civilians are killed, as we further alienate Britain, the media may just have to start connecting the dots and viewing things in context.
But as long as CNN and MSNBC continue to mimic Fox in having a 2 to 1 OR greater conservatives to progressives ratio in their pundits, and as long as people like Wolf Blitzer and Chris Matthews act like Sean Hannity and Joe Scarborough, average news-seeking Americans are not likely to get much truth from the commercial media.
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