Learning From Vietnam

Douglas Brinkley, in The Making of a War President, a review of LBJ: Architect of American Ambition, writes “There would have been terrible political costs in allowing Vietnam to fall, to be sure, but the greater costs — to Johnson and the nation — lay in allowing the war to continue.”

I found this particularly relevant after reading Bush Warns It Would Be ‘Disaster’ to Leave Iraq. Bush is right about that leaving would be a disaster, but fails to understand that it will also be a disaster to remain. The likelihood of winding up in such a position is one of many reasons why he should not have invaded in the first place. Bush could have learned something from our experience in Vietnam, if only he had showed up.

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