Analysis: A mini-Tet offensive in Iraq

UPI ^ | 4/6/2004 4:12 PM | Arnaud de Borchgrave

[rob777]

Of course the big difference now is that there is no longer a complete media monopoly.

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[Polybius]

Of course the big difference now is that there is no longer a complete media monopoly.

There's FOX and there's us. :-)

[kingu]

Iraq will only be another Vietnam if the home front collapses, as it did following the Tet offensive, which began on the eve of the Chinese New Year, Jan. 31, 1968.

Hint for reporters trying hard to compare Iraq to Vietnam: The war in Iraq is over with. The government has been completely removed and a new one is replacing it, the military was completely defeated. Military victory has long ago occurred, most prisoners of war have been released, etc, etc, etc.

You know, if I had a few hundred million sitting around that I wanted to waste, I'd put up a national ad campaign to clear up this idiocy. The war is over; this isn't even mop up operations after the war. Call it a huge peacekeeping operation, for lack of a better term.

But of course, comparing it to Vietnam is one of the ways that liberal and even conservative reporters keep using to maintain public interest.

[An.American.Expatriate]

Before plunging into an orgy of erroneous and invidious historical parallels between Iraq and Vietnam,...

Nice lead in. Very Novel. Tell the reader EXACTLY what you are going to do . . .

I guess we must accept that every military engagement will be a "new Vietnam".

[geopyg]

"While failure is not an option for Bush, it clearly is for Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who called Iraq the president's Vietnam. It is, of course, no such animal. But it could become so if Congressional resolve dissolves."

And Dean comparing Bush to Nixon - must be that '70's nostagia. Try to get the Baby Boom generation to remember their "roots" in '60's (and '70's) activism. I don't think it will work - they're either too busy trying to raise kids or making money. (Or, they forgot it all due to all the drugs!)

[Fledermaus]

Yep...only an IDIOT from UPI like this guy could compare this to Tet!

But of course, idiots like this misreported Tet also!

When are we going to able to just shoot these lying bastards?

[Travis McGee]

There's FOX and there's us. :-)

And talk radio!

[John Lenin]

The article is typical French rubbish about Iraq, consider the source, Arnaud de Borchgrave.

[Fledermaus]

Exactly!

[ccmay]

The article is typical French rubbish about Iraq, consider the source, Arnaud de Borchgrave.

De Borchgrave happens to be the former editor in chief of the Washington Times, a very conservative newpaper, and is a man whose views are worthy of respect.

-ccm

[John Lenin]

He comes across on TV as a leftist, he has me fooled.

[Ichneumon]

Yep...only an IDIOT from UPI like this guy could compare this to Tet! But of course, idiots like this misreported Tet also!

Did you actually read the article?

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

In order to equate this war with Vietnam, John Kerry would also have to shoot an unarmed wounded enemy soldier in this one.

[Fledermaus]

Yes I did.

Borchgrave is a pious idiot. But I let that cloud my reading and you are correct. Thank you for pointing out to me I wasn't reading it clearly enough.

[ModelBreaker]

Yep...only an IDIOT from UPI like this guy could compare this to Tet!

This article is spot on. The author makes the point that we WON Tet big time on the battlefield and lost it as Walter Cronkite and his fellow travelers in the media pounded the homefront into rubble.

What do you think Cronkite's successors ABCCBSNBCCNN are trying to do today? Whether the American people can withstand this assault by the vicious dogs that run the media is a very open question, in my mind. Hence, the possible analogy to Tet.

[Fledermaus]

Read my post #13.

[LadyDoc]

we WON the Tet offensive.

But the press spun it as a loss....

And the press never did get around to reporting the mass graves of Vietnamese civilians killed by the Viet Cong during the offensive.

I see the press is again spinning defeat out of victory...

Ah, but the young folks read blogs...

[Pan_Yans Wife]

More Tet in the news.

[BroncosFan]

On most matters, he is rather conservative. But when he wades into Middle Eastern matters -- especially Israel -- his views skew leftward.