Iraq and Vietnam - interchangeable ?,

[bazwillrun]

Have any of you on here read, "Memoirs of Vietnam and The Pentagon Papers" by Daniel Ellsberg ? Ellsberg virtually singlehandedly brought the Vietnam war to an end http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg I am reading this yet again and i have realised that for virtually everytime Vietnam is mentioned you could replace it with Iraq. Basicall Bush talks of endgames but he is just using that as a facade for escalation, exactly the same as L B johnson and nixon and otheres before them in Indo-China. Bush and Blair keep talking of troop reductions yet that is followed up by increased troops and deadly offensives. They say there is no intention of attacking Iran do it with negotians , L B Johnson back in the 60's talking of peace plans and started secretly bombing Cambodia. USA Presidential policy at the time was that they had to be seen as "The Winner" nothing else would be acceptable ! sound familiar , yet all the time the people like Ellsberg were telling them it wasnt winnable, just get out now ans save tens of thousands of lives on both sides, sound familiar ?!

[kwicky]

Leading up to the Iraq invasion both Bush and Blair repeated that the war was not inevitable provided Saddam cooperated with the weapons inspectors, which he did, whilst at the same time building up their armed forces in neighbouring friendly countries.
This time they have Iran in there sights. Aircraft carriers and battle ships are being stationed within striking distance for a possible strike.
Have they learnt nothing from a threat and destroy mission or will history repeat itself, but this time involve major powers like Russia and China?