"But this isn't like Vietnam..."

[misanthrope]

...is what we keep hearing .

Well, this veteran's actions and words sure seem reminiscent...and brave.

[still_one]

1. it is worse than Nam

unfortunately, this administration has no appreciation for the medals that the pilot earned in service to this country. They only care for their own self-interests. Perhaps it may move others to take a second look at what is happening

[MadMaddie]

2. Excellent letter...I gotta feeling there many active duty.

soldiers that are feeling the same way!!

God Save this country!!

[benddem]

3. yeah

one was in a jungle and the other in a desert...otherwise same o same o.

[EVDebs]

4. It is now technically speaking 2006, but more like 1966 or 67, IMHO

We're just three years in, like from '64 to '67, when the country was just waking up to what the M/I complex was really trying to do. In '63 they'd just whacked JFK in order to get us into their damn war (as LBJ put it) and by '68, even Johnson knew the cause was over. Cronkite just relayed the bad news.

Today the R's are finally coming out of their fog, and even William F. Buckley, Jr, has written about the current fiasco being what it is.

It Didn't Work
http://www.nationalreview.com/buckley/buckley200602241451.asp

""One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed""

Also, as far as the economy is concerned, Pat Buchanan's Suicide By Free Trade article's last paragraph should tell you who should be running the economy

Suicide by free trade
www.amconmag.com/2004/2004_04_12/buchanan.html

""Indeed, if the issue is jobs, Republicans ought to be thrown out. For not only are they not creating them, they have no idea how to stop exporting them. In their hearts, some of them think it a good thing. They are like the doctors of old who sincerely believed bleeding the patient was the way to get rid of the disease because that is what their textbooks and wise men told them""

[LynnTheDem]

5. WORSE than 'Nam.

But of course the rightwingnuts won't wake up & realize the facts (they hate facts) until we again have 50,000 dead Americans.

[Neil Lisst]

6. hell yeah it's a Quagmire! Only the improved protective gear ...

is saving our troops from much higher casualties. We have better protective gear now, and that means we save a lot more soldiers, but it also means we have a lot of seriously wounded who survive.

We've had about a combined 10,000 of seriously injured plus killed in Iraq.

Here's today's cartoon Vietnam reference

[genie_weenie]

7. Absolutely, only improved medical aid and gear

has kept the KIA numbers from being doubled or trebled in number. And like you note everyone (with a stake a keeping us in Iraq) conveniently ignores the 17000 WIA with 8000 not RTD...

[misanthrope]

9. It's also much easier to...

...hide, dig tunnels and ambush in the jungle than in the desert.

[Neil Lisst]

11. I see you have numbers right.

And you mention the other key factor - the ability to get badly wounded soldiers to real medical facilities quickly - which has resulted in so many soldiers who have survived truly serious wounds and losses.

In many ways, the soldiers who survive with grave injuries pay the highest toll of all. Right now, we've lost 2300 soldiers and seen another 8000 wounded and not returned to duty. Many of those are badly hurt.

[genie_weenie]

12. Unfortunately, I do

20,000 casaulties but all it fucking took for me was seeing one dead Captain...

[DinahMoeHum]

8. from the "Big Muddy" to the "Big Sandy". . .

and the Big Fool says to push on.

:evilfrown:

[Jack Rabbit]

10. I agree

Getting involved in Vietnam was an honest mistake.

[baby_mouse]

13. No, it takes place *after* that fuck-up so it's LESS forgiveable. nt.

[tabasco]

14. Let's see:

- War based on trumped up and false intelligence - CHECK.
- Corporations looting the Treasury - CHECK
- Can't tell the good guys from the bad guys - CHECK
- Massive loss of civilian life - CHECK
- Very few allies helping us out - CHECK
- Increasingly effective guerrilla resistance - CHECK
- Idiots screaming "if you don't support the war you're a commie" - CHECK
- No clear achievable military objectives - CHECK
- "Host" nation military/police force totally ineffective against guerrillas - CHECK
- US forces doing all the fighting - CHECK

NOPE - NOTHING LIKE VIETNAM AT ALL.