Vietnam Parallels

Today is the eleventh day after the U.S. turned over "limited sovereignty" to the Iraqis. Thirty-five U.S. soldiers have been killed. That averages over three per day. Since the war began, including the invasion and the deadliest month of April 2004, the average has been just under two per day. The death toll should remind us all that the military occupation still continues.

Meanwhile controversy rages in Taunton, MA as the city council debates tomorrow night whether to allow the Eyes Wide Open Exhibition to be displayed on Church Green, a space set aside to honor Vietnam veterans. See the news article. Eyes Wide Open is one hundred percent supportive of the U.S. troops while condemning one hundred percent the war they have been forced to fight . Many of the families and soldiers that I have talked with joined the national guard to pay for college or make extra money for their families. They were prepared to serve their country in real national emergencies not manufactured ones.

The parallels to Vietnam are becoming more apparent everyday. We have witnessed the hyperbole that the U.S. government used to justify the Iraq war, suggesting that the "smoking gun will be the mushroom cloud." Back in the 1960s government officials urged the American people to stop the communists in Vietnam before they had to be stopped at the Golden Gate bridge. Or as Secretary of State Dean Rusk said in June of 1965, the collapse of Vietnam would lead to "our ruin and almost certainly to a catastrophic war."