i see a lot of bagging on the prosecution of vietnam, i don't see a lot of direct comparisons to the iraqi situation.
the author dismisses the Gulf of Tonkin incident as if he really knew what happened for sure. nowhere in his article does he allude to the fact that it is still unresolved.
the title is especially irritating.
"It took two years for US deaths to reach 324 in Vietnam. It passed that figure in seven months in Iraq"
yeah... but we weren't even in direct military operations till 1964, the year in which his selected period ends. thats like saying we lost more people in iraq than we have in canada since 1916.
in those 7 months in iraq we have toppled an entrenched regime, routed an admittedly poor enemy, restored basic utilities and have been training a local lawenforcement establishment. no comparison.
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If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.
~ Winston Churchill
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