Hit Me Baby One More Time
I don't normally like the Iraq/Vietnam comparison because I think it too easily erases the subtleties of the situation (although the argument could be made that we're talking about war here and not the perfect recipe for creme brulee), but I think Alterman pretty much nails it with his VIETNAM 2 PREFLIGHT CHECK:
Cabal of oldsters who won’t listen to outside advice? Check.Or, we could just be like Britney when she breezily suggests that "we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that."
No understanding of ethnicities of the many locals? Check.
Imposing country boundaries drawn in Europe, not by the locals? Check.
Unshakeable faith in our superior technology? Check.
France secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
Russia secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
China secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
SecDef pushing a conflict the JCS never wanted? Check.
Fear we’ll look bad if we back down now? Check.
Corrupt Texan in the WH? Check.
Land war in Asia? Check.
Right unhappy with outcome of previous war? Check.
Enemy easily moves in/out of neighboring countries? Check.
Soldiers about to be dosed with *our own* chemicals? Check.
Friendly fire problem ignored instead of solved? Check.
Anti-Americanism up sharply in Europe? Check.
B-52 bombers? Check.
Helicopters that clog up on the local dust? Check.
In-fighting among the branches of the military? Check.
Locals that cheer us by day, hate us by night? Check.
Local experts ignored? Check.
Local politicians ignored? Check.
Locals used to conflicts lasting longer than the USA has been a country? Check.
Against advice, Prez won’t raise taxes to pay for war? Check.
Blue water navy ships operating in brown water? Check.
Use of nukes hinted at if things don’t go our way? Check.
Unpopular war? Check.
Which is just where her fellow backwater jug juice bunch seems to be heading -- according to Chris Bowers, even as the war in Iraq grows more unpopular in the blue states, support for BushCo. and Their War is growing in places where Fearless Leader was already popular. As Chris notes, "it seems entirely possible that the so called red-blue divide is actually growing even greater than it was before."
Well dropping your kid in a body bag has always been a status symbol in the Bible Belt, I don't know why I thought that would've changed.
(via Best of the Blogs)
posted by Jane Hamsher @ 6/30/2005 11:32:00 AM
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