Bright Shining Lie

There are many analogies being made between Iraq and Vietnam. Comparing the latest rise in violence to the Tet offensive was asked of Bush. If Bush really understands what happened during Tet is another question. The American forces in Vietnam crushed the North Vietnam forces during Tet. What became apparent after Tet was "The Bright Shining Lie" that the American people were told. The only analogy that needs to be drawn from Vietnam is that America was taken into a war based on lies. Vietnam & Iraq: Another 'Bright Shining Lie' by Elizabeth Sullivan The ultimate tragedy of Iraq is that it was dreamed up by a generation that lived through an earlier war constructed atop deception and denial. The Vietnam generation should have known better. Yet Iraq is the same "bright shining lie" told by the same sort of smart men -- and this time, smart women -- that Neil Sheehan chronicled in his devastating book about the many-tiered American deceptions that made Vietnam such a quagmire. As with Vietnam, this nation is propping up a corrupt Iraqi government and distorting outcomes by picking its own political winners and losers. As with Vietnam, U.S. officials faced with military stalemate are grasping at straws via vain attempts to "Iraqify" a national military and police force that lacks legitimacy with most Iraqis. Why else would Iraqis be able to take over only two of the nation's 18 provinces when -- according to ground commander Gen. George Casey -- 80 percent to 90 percent of current violence is concentrated in only five? It may not be surprising that a White House where few served in Vietnam would fail to see the Vietnam analogies, and instead cast the post-9/11 landscape as the ideological equivalent of the Cold War. President George W. Bush effectively sat out Vietnam in the champagne branch of the Texas Air National Guard. Vice President Dick Cheney "had other priorities" and five draft deferments. Read More at The Plain Dealer