![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/tettt.jpg\")
The
\n similarities between Iraq and Vietnam are moving from disquieting to
\n disturbing to desperately dire. Then as now, a gullible and
\n gung-ho public was duped into a foreign war by a corrupt administration
\n with the complicity of a sensationalist press drunk on dreams of access
\n and war-reporting fame.<\/p>\n
Then as now, the administration was heavily indebted
\n to, if not dominated by, industrial and economic powers. Then as now,
\n despite promises and expectations for a short, decisive battle, the war
\n ran on and on, with no accepted definition of victory or navigable route
\n to
\n achieving
\n it. Then as now, public support of the war, initially robust, was eroding
\n like a sand castle in a heavy surf, in waves of bad press, roadside bombs,
\n and American casualties.<\/p>\n
Then as now, the administrations claimed progress, claimed
\n to be winning the hearts and minds of the locals, could point to numbers
\n and bodies and disrupted supply lines, and refused to question the viability
\n of the mission. There was always a positive spin on the Administration’s
\n news desk; the number of attacks was down, although the number of casualties
\n was up, or the number of enemy casualties was up, although the number
\n of attacks was, too.<\/p>\n
It was, and is, Chinese water torture. The death
\n from a thousand cuts. The horrible fascination with the war footage on
\n the evening news, the human interest stories of bereavement that are reaching
\n into community after community, like a silent cancer, the accumulating
\n stories of graft, cruelty, deadly mistakes. But still, despite the uproar
\n on campuses (then), and the blogosphere (now), the center held, and the
\n "silent majority" supported the boys on the ground, and by extension,
\n their mission.<\/p>\n
And then there was Tet<\/a>. In January, 1968, the At a tremendous human and material cost, during the The attack was a failure militarily, but in the war Today, poised between the dream and the nightmare, the As horrible as it sounds, we are waiting for another Has the American character changed so much since ’68 Answering that question will be the defining moral test The similarities between Iraq and Vietnam are moving from disquieting to disturbing to desperately dire. Then as now, a gullible and gung-ho public was duped into a foreign war by a corrupt administration with the complicity of a sensationalist press … Continue reading
\n administration was telling us that things were finally turning our way. A
\n light was visible at the end of the tunnel. Over the previous five
\n years, 22 tons of explosives were dropped for every square mile of territory,
\n which worked out to 300 lbs for every man, women and child in Vietnam,
\n 2.6 million of whom were
\n killed.<\/p>\n
\n Tet holiday that January, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong launched
\n simultaneous attacks across the country, attacking cities, military installations,
\n infrastructure and even the US Embassy in the capital, Saigon.<\/p>\n
\n of perception it was the turning point. It showed the American people
\n that the war was not winnable, at least not without descending to a level
\n of savagery and vengeance which would shake the very foundations of who
\n we are and what we stand for as Americans. It was a price the American
\n public, at that point in history, was not ready to pay.<\/p>\n
\n American public is in flux and in doubt. Doubts are growing with the death
\n toll, and more and more prominent Americans are joining the voices calling
\n for withdrawal.<\/p>\n
\n Tet. For
\n a turning point, a tipping point, a stopping point. For something so
\n horrible,
\n so
\n tragic, or so chilling that it will be obvious that we will never prevail
\n without razing the entire extent of the territory we pretend to control. <\/p>\n
\n that people today will be willing to pay the price that was too high
\n then; their inheritance, ideals and principles, or will the Iraqui Tet
\n again be the turning point leading inevitably to an American withdrawal?<\/p>\n
\n of this generation of Americans.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"