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January 20, 2006
Alaskan in Exile
by Neil Zawicki

    “We must never forget that if the war in Vietnam is lost, the right of free speech will be extinguished throughout the world.”
    - Former Vice President Richard Nixon, Oct. 27, 1965.

    In 1968, Walter Cronkite declared the Vietnam War un-winnable. President Lyndon Johnson, after watching Cronkite make the declaration on national television, remarked, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.”

    Cronkite has taken the same position with the situation in Iraq. He believes the troops should all come home.

    Okay Mr. Bush, you’ve lost Cronkite. What next? Bomb Syria? And I have little doubt that your hubris will prevent you from considering Cronkite’s No Confidence vote, because you have this hillbilly logic that tells you to stay the course even though the truck is falling apart and you’re heading for a cliff. At least Johnson had a grip on the reality of the situation.

    The Iraq War has as much to do with fighting terrorism as Vietnam did with defeating communism. We’re just walking around getting into fights with a ghost-like enemy, and no real progress is being made. Worse, and just like Vietnam, our commanders are inflating the statistics and wrenching the news to create a veneer of success, when it is clear nothing is getting done over there.

    The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army won (and yes, they really did win) the war with very sophisticated tactics and strategies. Their doctrine was this: “If the Americans advance, we pull back. If they stop, we harass them. If they retreat, we follow them.”

    That’s a pretty effective way to fight a big, conspicuous, loud army in your own country. As an added bonus, the American people were absolutely exhausted by body counts and dead neighbors, to the point that they just didn’t want to hear about it anymore.

    The United States and the North Vietnamese had very different strategic ideas in Vietnam. We were playing basketball; counting three pointers and making dramatic plays inside the paint, cheering all along. They, on the other hand, were playing chess; calmly calculating moves and setting traps. In the end, we got tired before they did.

When it was all over in 1975, regular Americans said they weren’t happy or sad, just tired, and relieved to not have to watch it on the news anymore. And the south did fall to the Communist north, but it did not trigger a flood of communism across the globe, or extinguish the right of free speech throughout the world. Ultimately the communists just ran out of money, so there was no need for all that killing in the first place.

    In Iraq right now, Saddam is gone and the Iraqi people are working out a system of government among themselves. It’s not a tidy thing, and they may not even choose a democratic government – and they don’t have to. Regardless, it doesn’t help to have a bunch of jumpy, unwanted American soldiers walking around kicking in doors trying to find the people who are trying to kill them just because they’re still there, and won’t leave.

    Getting out of Iraq would not be a cowardly act. It would not be abandonment of the Iraqi people. It would be noble. It would be wise and it would be helpful.

    After Johnson made the remark about Cronkite, he listened to a tape recording of a soldier in Vietnam, describing what he sees and does each day, and it brought him to tears. After that, he famously refused to seek re-election, and dropped from politics all together. In fact, he even grew his hair long.

When Soldiers read that the president had quit, it made them question what the hell they were doing if even the president was bailing on the plan.

    Johnson would have done better to bring the troops home before quitting himself.

    Of course and unfortunately Bush is no quitter. But the least he could do is just this one thing – bring them home. That would be one thing that wouldn’t be such a sickening repetition of our past and tragic mistakes.
   
   
     
   







 




   





Neil Zawicki, exiled Alaskan, is Editor at Large for Insurgent49, a former reporter for the Alaska Star, and winner of the Alaska Press Club's 'Best Columnist' award. He is now living out the rest of his days in an undisclosed location in Oregon. He can be contacted at -  neil@insurgent49.com
- Columnists -

Editor's Desk
by Aaron Selbig

Red Alert
by Soren Wuerth

Alaskan In Exile
by Neil Zawicki

The
Bramble Bush
by Kevin Morford





- also by this writer -
Copyright 2005 Insurgent Media. All Rights Reserved.
in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership.