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Undertoad · 08-30-2006, 09:05 AM

I still think that's the most appropriate Vietnam analogy with Iraq: don't fight a war without overwhelming public support.

We tire, is what Americans do. In 1980 I was in grade school and took a (rare) course in International Relations. This was right after the Iranian hostage crisis. The class was packed. The teacher pointed out that, the previous year, almost nobody took the class. It was his theory that Americans have an attention span of about four years for international matters.

This sentence: may find it hard, if not impossible, the analysts say, to again try in the near future to topple a hostile regime

This is a poorly-written sentence because 95% of people will misinterpret it. The American military force is stronger now than it ever has been in history - partly because it's now been used, and is battlefield-hardened with commanders having all sorts of different kinds of experience. There is no question about the ability of the force to topple a hostile regime. It can topple just about anyone, with the use of its little pinky finger. That part of the Iraqi misadventure was the "Mission Accomplished" section.

The US will find it impossible to topple a hostile regime because of political pressures. The world and the American people are against it. Which is what makes the Iraqi misadventure a bigger and bigger mistake. It turns N Korea and even Iran into Somebody Else's Problem.

Up until the next attack on US soil that is.

08-30-2006, 09:05 AM	#4
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	I still think that's the most appropriate Vietnam analogy with Iraq: don't fight a war without overwhelming public support. We tire, is what Americans do. In 1980 I was in grade school and took a (rare) course in International Relations. This was right after the Iranian hostage crisis. The class was packed. The teacher pointed out that, the previous year, almost nobody took the class. It was his theory that Americans have an attention span of about four years for international matters. This sentence: may find it hard, if not impossible, the analysts say, to again try in the near future to topple a hostile regime This is a poorly-written sentence because 95% of people will misinterpret it. The American military force is stronger now than it ever has been in history - partly because it's now been used, and is battlefield-hardened with commanders having all sorts of different kinds of experience. There is no question about the ability of the force to topple a hostile regime. It can topple just about anyone, with the use of its little pinky finger. That part of the Iraqi misadventure was the "Mission Accomplished" section. The US will find it impossible to topple a hostile regime because of political pressures. The world and the American people are against it. Which is what makes the Iraqi misadventure a bigger and bigger mistake. It turns N Korea and even Iran into Somebody Else's Problem. Up until the next attack on US soil that is.