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fortdixlover
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 1476
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 Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:17 am Post subject: GWB on the unmistakable legacy of Vietnam |
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http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/08/bush_no_more_vietnams.asp
| President Bush wrote: | Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left. There's no debate in my mind that the veterans from Vietnam deserve the high praise of the United States of America. (Applause.) Whatever your position is on that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like "boat people," "re-education camps," and "killing fields."
There was another price to our withdrawal from Vietnam, and we can hear it in the words of the enemy we face in today's struggle -- those who came to our soil and killed thousands of citizens on September the 11th, 2001. In an interview with a Pakistani newspaper after the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden declared that "the American people had risen against their government's war in Vietnam. And they must do the same today."
His number two man, Zawahiri, has also invoked Vietnam. In a letter to al Qaeda's chief of operations in Iraq, Zawahiri pointed to "the aftermath of the collapse of the American power in Vietnam and how they ran and left their agents."
Zawahiri later returned to this theme, declaring that the Americans "know better than others that there is no hope in victory. The Vietnam specter is closing every outlet." Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility -- but the terrorists see it differently.
We must remember the words of the enemy. We must listen to what they say. Bin Laden has declared that "the war [in Iraq] is for you or us to win. If we win it, it means your disgrace and defeat forever." Iraq is one of several fronts in the war on terror -- but it's the central front -- it's the central front for the enemy that attacked us and wants to attack us again. And it's the central front for the United States and to withdraw without getting the job done would be devastating. (Applause.)
If we were to abandon the Iraqi people, the terrorists would be emboldened, and use their victory to gain new recruits. As we saw on September the 11th, a terrorist safe haven on the other side of the world can bring death and destruction to the streets of our own cities. Unlike in Vietnam, if we withdraw before the job is done, this enemy will follow us home. And that is why, for the security of the United States of America, we must defeat them overseas so we do not face them in the United States of America. (Applause.) |
I agree with the statement that "one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like "boat people," "re-education camps," and "killing fields."
This was the unmistakable legacy to everyone except the architect of withdrawal, John Kerry, and the rest of the LLL.
-- FDL
_________________
"Millions For Defense, Not One Cent For Tribute" - Thomas Jefferson on paying ransom to Muslim corsairs (pirates). |
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RiflemanDD730
Seaman Apprentice
Joined: 21 Aug 2004
Posts: 96
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:30 am Post subject: |
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This speech was a brilliant summary of why we had to act in the Middle East and the responsibilities that come with being the most powerful country on earth. The VFW convention, with its audience of veterans, was the ideal location for a discussion of our actions in WW II, Korea, and the failures of our political and media leaders on Vietnam, and how those actions (and failures) relate to the Middle East.
The core issues in the speech are that the desire for freedom exists in all people, a free world is a safe world and that history confirms these points.
The veterans in that hall know the sacrifices that the military and their families make for freedom and security. They applauded. That's good enough for me.
The reference to Vietnam was particularly appropriate since so many in the media refer to Iraq as "another Vietnam". By pointing out that Vietnam was a failure of resolve that had far reaching consequences including the inspiration of today's terrorists he reminded everyone that we should not create another Vietnam-like failure of political leadership. |
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LewWaters
Admin
Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:37 am Post subject: |
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And, right on schedule, Democrats blast Bush’s Vietnam comparison.
Trying to lead the charge, “Invoking the tragedy of Vietnam to defend the failed policy in Iraq is as irresponsible as it is ignorant of the realities of both of those wars,” said Sen. John Kerry.
But, last month he said, "We heard that argument over and over again about the bloodbath that would engulf the entire Southeast Asia, and it didn't happen."
If no bloodbath, John, what "failed policy?" What "tragedy?"
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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 1:33 pm Post subject: |
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An outstanding speech!! Glad to see the President take off the gloves.
Mac Owens (who is a favorite of mine) offers great analysis in taking down the "maroons" Kerry & Kennedy et al:
| Quote: | Maroons Rush In
Criticism of the president’s Vietnam analogy takes Chutzpah.
By Mackubin Thomas Owens
In his speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Tuesday, President Bush argued that the consequences of an American withdrawal from Iraq would be similar to those that followed our abandonment of South Vietnam in 1975. Citing the killing fields of Cambodia and the executions and “reeducation” camps in Vietnam, the president continued:
Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left. There's no debate in my mind that the veterans from Vietnam deserve the high praise of the United States of America. (Applause.) Whatever your position is on that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like "boat people," "re-education camps," and "killing fields."
~SNIP~
Bugs Bunny had a name for people like this: “maroons.” And Alan Dershowitz once wrote a book about them entitled Chutzpah! Of course in criticizing Bush’s reference to Vietnam, they are comparing apples and oranges. If they don’t see this, they are fools. If they do — which is more likely — they are dishonest. Take your pick.
The fact is that opponents of the war have drawn the Vietnam analogy like a gun, seeking from the very beginning to argue that Iraq and Vietnam were analogous. Ted Kennedy famously called Iraq “George Bush’s Vietnam.”
I have argued on several occasions that the parallels between the two conflicts at the operational and strategic levels of war were nonsensical. But that has never stopped the opponents of the current war from invoking the conventional Vietnam War narrative....
Cont'd at National Review |
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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fortdixlover
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 1476
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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| LewWaters wrote: | And, right on schedule, Democrats blast Bush’s Vietnam comparison.
Trying to lead the charge, “Invoking the tragedy of Vietnam to defend the failed policy in Iraq is as irresponsible as it is ignorant of the realities of both of those wars,” said Sen. John Kerry. |
Say what? Irresponsible in what way? The reality of both wars is that pulling out will get millions killed (or, in the case of Vietnam, DID get millions killed) and encourage fanatical, deadly ideologies to spread.
The events when John Kerry speaks the truth and/or makes sense are rarer than hen's teeth.
Here's what's bugging him, from Hugh Hewitt's site:
| Quote: | ...The president had not just touched a nerve, he'd touched the nerve in American history: Complicity in foreseeable genocide is, after all, a big deal.
This is the ghost haunting the anti-war left, and the left shudders and screams whenever it floats into the room. All those millions of Cambodians didn't have to die, and all those Boat People didn't have to sail into death or exile. The Kennedys didn't have to topple Diem any more than Senators Levin and Clinton have to work to force the toppling the Maliki. And the Democratic Congress elected in 1974 didn't have to abandon South Vietnam to North Vietnam.
America's Vietnam policy of intervention, manipulation, and then withdrawal represented a series of choices. The Democrats of those years, urged on by a hard left anti-war front, finally made a choice to leave, a choice with awful consequences.
This is the crucial point: The Democratic Party and their supporters made that choice, cheered on by the anti-war left. They own the consequences. |
and this:
| Quote: | | When President Bush made his argument yesterday about the consequences of retreat, he openly demanded that the surrenderists of '07 look back at their political ancestors and their legacy. Like the appeasers of the '30s, the Democrats of '74-'75 and the demonstrators of '67-'72 have a lot to answer for. Unlike the appeasers of the 1930s, they have never had the guts to do so, or at least most of them haven't. |
Including one John Kerry.
-- FDL
_________________
"Millions For Defense, Not One Cent For Tribute" - Thomas Jefferson on paying ransom to Muslim corsairs (pirates). |
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