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And finally this morning, Prez Sez Attax Reflect US Gainz. And to think my first instinct was to see all those dead Iraqis as a signal that things might not be going well.
Bush gave no hint of such backroom deliberations as he argued that the recent attacks only demonstrated foes’ desperation… "Every sign of progress in Iraq adds to the desperation of the terrorists and the remnants of Saddam’s brutal regime."
Democrats reacted with ridicule. Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), a presidential candidate, likened Bush’s statement to the "light at the end of the tunnel" claims during the Vietnam War. "Does the president really believe that suicide bombers are willing to strap explosives to their bodies because we’re restoring electricity and creating jobs for Iraqis?" Kerry asked in a statement.
Bush got a similar reprimand earlier from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has supported the president on Iraq. "This is the first time that I have seen a parallel to Vietnam, in terms of information that the administration is putting out versus the actual situation on the ground," he told Newsweek. White House press secretary Scott McClellan defended Bush’s assertion, saying: "Our military leaders have said that some of these attacks have become more sophisticated, but what you’re really seeing is that the more progress we make, the more desperate these killers become."
That Vietnam is the missing link dog food supplement
reference point more and more politicians are using for describing setbacks in Iraq shouldn't be surprising— 21st century Americans don't have much of a vocabulary to describe a conflict in which there are daily civilian and G.I. deaths. (Not to mention the troubling feeling I get when I see men like Kerry and McCain who certainly knew Vietnam making these comparisons.) But should the national memory of what Vietnam represented continue to creep into the statements of influential policymakers, I expect Presidential candidates and Bush administration policymakers will walk some tricky tightropes in 2004.
