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Rush Limbaugh Live Thread Friday Oct 27, 2006
RushLimbaugh.com ^ | 10-27-2006 | Rush Limbaugh

Posted on 10/27/2006 8:56:11 AM PDT by MNJohnnie

http://beccycole.com/albums/videos/poster_girl.shtml

Great Video. The Aussies get it.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1726911/posts

Another Vietnam Asharq Al-Awsat ^ | 10/27/06 | Amir Taheri

Posted on 10/27/2006 8:21:42 AM CDT by Valin

Even before the US-led coalition had fired its first shot in the war that saved Iraq from Saddam Hussein there were some who predicted that the exercise would become “another Vietnam.”

The “another Vietnam” chorus included radical American intellectuals such as Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky and Sean Penn along with such figures on both the extreme right and the extreme left in Europe as Jean-Marie Le Pen, George Galloway and Harold Pinter. Since then, the prediction that Iraq was becoming or had already become “another Vietnam” has hit the headlines every three or four months.

The “another Vietnam” chorus is at its loudest whenever there is an upsurge in terrorist insurgency or sectarian violence in Iraq and at times when the US is holding an election.

It is, therefore, not surprising that October should have witnessed the return of the “another Vietnam” chorus at its loudest.

October has witnessed the worst violence in Iraq in 18 months. The joint efforts of the US forces and the new Iraqi army to end sectarian killings and terrorist attacks in Baghdad have failed. There has also been a series of defeatist declarations by a number of US and British politicians and military figures. Add to all that the fact that the US is headed for a crucial mid-term election early next month, and October becomes the ideal month for an upsurge in “another Vietnam” predictions.

The problem, however, is that because we are never told what the phrase “another Vietnam” actually means, the analogy may be misleading.

To start with the US and its allies in Vietnam were defending an un-elected and corrupt regime in Saigon against its enemies in both the south and North Vietnam. In Iraq, however, the US-led coalition is on the side of an elected government that represents virtually the entire Iraqi nation. There is no equivalent of the Hanoi regime in Iraq to offer the Iraqis an alternative vision and a flag under which to fight the government in Baghdad. The Al Qaeda figures in Iraq and the remnants of the Saddamite clan could hardly be compared to Hochi Minh and his associates who had won their credentials during decades of struggle against French colonialism.

In Vietnam, the US and its Western allies had some 600,000 troops committed to the war. In Iraq that number is around 150,000.

The US task force in Vietnam was a conscript army while the one in Iraq is an entirely voluntary one. In Vietnam the US lost an average of 25 men each day. In Iraq the figure is two a day.

In Vietnam, apart from the north that was under Communist rule, the Vietcong controlled large chunks of territory both in the Mekong delta and close to the Laotian and Cambodian borders. In Iraq, however, Al Qaeda and the Saddamites control no territory.

As far as treasure is concerned, the Vietnam War was nine times costlier for the US in comparable dollars than the Iraq operation has been.

In Vietnam, Hanoi and the Vietcong received support from the Soviet Union and China. In Iraq, support for opponents of the democratic system comes from Iran and Syria.

Also unlike the era of Vietnam, there is no grass-root movement in the US in sympathy with either Al Qaeda or the Saddamites; Not even the most determined anti-Bush figures in the US are prepared to openly side with Saddam Hussein and Abu-Ayyub al-Masri.

There is one other major reason why Iraq will not be “another Vietnam.” That reason is George W Bush, possibly the most stubborn US leader since President Harry S Truman. Bush is not a cut-and-run type, especially at a time that he enters the second half of his final term in office and must be thinking of his place in history.

Having said all that Iraq may yet become “another Vietnam” in only one sense. The Americans may still decide to snatch defeat from the jaws of military victory just as they did in Vietnam. There are many in the US political and cultural elite who want Iraq to fail with an almost pathological ardour solely to get at George W Bush and his supposed cabal of “neoncons”. A Democrat controlled Congress could cut the budget for the US troops in Iraq, forcing their withdrawal.

But even if there is a new Congress controlled by the Democrats it is not at all certain that it would cut the troops’ budget and send that last helicopter to get the last Americans out of Baghdad. Apart from a lunatic fringe, no one in the Democrat Party is advocating a cut-and-run policy in Iraq.

This is because they know that Iraqis not another Vietnam. In Iraq, the US and its allies have achieved all their political objectives that included the dismantling of Saddam Hussein’s machinery of war and repression and the restoration of power to the Iraqi people. In Vietnam, however, the US failed to dismantle the Communist-Vietcong machinery of war and repression, and certainly did not restore power to the people even in the southern half of the country

A precipitous US withdrawal from Iraq is certain to complicate matters for the newly created democratic system.

But it would not mean a seizure of power by Al Qaeda and the Saddamites. The terrorists and the insurgents could continue killing people and causing mayhem for many more years just as their counterparts did in Algeria, Egypt and Turkey among others. But one thing is certain: Al Qaeda and Saddamites will never rule in Baghdad.

If the Iraqis wish to end the coalition’s military presence they have an opportunity to do so at the end of this year when the UN mandate under which the US-led forces are in Iraq comes to an end. But if the Iraqi parliament decides to extend the US-led coalition’s mandate, that decision should be respected and supported.

When it invaded Iraq, the US-led coalition entered into a moral contract with the Iraqi people. Under that contract the coalition to destroy the Saddamite tyranny and transfer power to the people of Iraq. In exchange, the Iraqi people were required to create a pluralist system based on power sharing among all the communities. The Iraqis have laid the foundations of precisely such a system. The US-led coalition must help defend this new system against its enemies until new Iraq is in a position to protect itself.

The best judgment at present is that new Iraq will need the coalition’s support for another 18 months or so. What is important is that, despite the violence and numerous social and economic problems, the new pluralist system in Iraq is deepening its roots, while a new political culture is taking shape. In other words there is something worth preserving, something worth fighting for. While new tactics may be needed to adapt to new conditions on the ground, especially in dealing with a highly protean insurgency, the strategy in Iraq remains as valid as it was four years ago. This is a strategy of creating an Iraq that belongs to all Iraqis and will never again be dominated by a single clan, let alone a brutal despot


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: elrushbo; majoritykeeper; rushlimbaugh; talkradio
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To: mylife

I know, I have crap to do that isn't getting done today myself.


161 posted on 10/27/2006 9:37:34 AM PDT by Cheapskate ( Preserve your freedom! ! Slap down the NANNY STATE!)
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To: UKRaddell

Rush kept referring to the Washington Times, I think he meant the WashPo trying to ruin Allen.


162 posted on 10/27/2006 9:37:43 AM PDT by casino66 (A beater of dead horses.)
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To: UKRaddell
They didn't give a monkey's about some crazies trying to kill 2500+ people. But had their knickers in an almighty twist about W using the term "Islamic Fascist".

Their naivete wouldn't bother me if they just weren't allowed to vote.

163 posted on 10/27/2006 9:38:00 AM PDT by American Quilter (You can't negotiate with people who are dedicated to your destruction.)
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To: TexasPatriot8

Would love to see Leiberman, the day after his term begins, switch to Republican ala Jeffords.


164 posted on 10/27/2006 9:38:02 AM PDT by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
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To: MNJohnnie
If it wasn't for the Foley trumped up cr*p, I would forgive Webb...after all these WERE works of fiction. Johnnie, I suspect you know a lot of raunchy stuff happens when soldiers go on R&R depending on the culture where they take their R&R. That's not a criticism of our troops, it's just something of a universal trait amongst soldiers the world around for thousands of years. But the fact that the Dumbocrats had to make the sins of the EMAILs of one bad Congressman a Major indictment of our party makes Webb fair game on this. I am not altogether comfortable with it, but in light of Foley, he should be toast...
165 posted on 10/27/2006 9:38:22 AM PDT by LibertyLee (George W. Bush a Great President--US out of the UN and UN out of the US!)
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To: ChicagoConservative27
Using the weasel Bill Kristol as a foil. Kristol has been against this administration since day 1.
166 posted on 10/27/2006 9:38:27 AM PDT by A Citizen Reporter (Go Cards! Go Cards! Go Cards! Beat the TAR out of Detroit.)
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To: MNJohnnie

The books include some graphic sexual passages, as well as frequent uses of a racial slur for blacks and descriptions of Vietnamese women as "monkey-faced."

If this was written by a Republican, the MSM would be going ballistic. What a double standard.

167 posted on 10/27/2006 9:38:39 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: A Citizen Reporter

Yeah, WHY are they upset with the ditz couric?


168 posted on 10/27/2006 9:38:48 AM PDT by RoseofTexas
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To: GottaLuvAkitas1

Even if it is a cultural thing, Its explosive


169 posted on 10/27/2006 9:39:18 AM PDT by mylife (The roar of the masses could be farts)
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To: casino66

I think so yes.
Wouldn't be The Times.


170 posted on 10/27/2006 9:39:23 AM PDT by UKRaddell (I might be movin' to Montana soon)
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To: Unrepentant VN Vet
Solar Snowplow

Yes, folks. This year's lack of a significant hurricane season, and the early snow and extreme cold hitting parts of the US, is further proof of the Bush administration's callous inattention to global warming and to the SUV's devastating effects on weather...Film at eleven.

171 posted on 10/27/2006 9:39:53 AM PDT by aligncare (Beware the Media-Industrial Complex!)
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To: SkyPilot
Macaca.

Banana.

172 posted on 10/27/2006 9:39:53 AM PDT by MaestroLC ("Let him who wants peace prepare for war."--Vegetius, A.D. Fourth Century)
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To: MaestroLC

Whoopsie, McCain! On the wrong side again, we see! Enjoys books about sicko sex...


173 posted on 10/27/2006 9:40:42 AM PDT by Yaelle
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To: casino66

The WaPO and the University of Virginia's Larry Sabato tried to ruin Allen. I haven't seen Larry punditing much this election season.


174 posted on 10/27/2006 9:40:50 AM PDT by A Citizen Reporter (Go Cards! Go Cards! Go Cards! Beat the TAR out of Detroit.)
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To: SkyPilot

Hey the Dims can say monkey faced.
They call the president "Chimpy" on a daily basis.


175 posted on 10/27/2006 9:41:02 AM PDT by mylife (The roar of the masses could be farts)
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To: DCPatriot

Never happen ...


176 posted on 10/27/2006 9:41:08 AM PDT by sono ("Islam’s borders are bloody and so are its innards." Samuel Huntington)
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To: SkyPilot

Who is the woman in the middle? She's pretty sharp lookin!


177 posted on 10/27/2006 9:41:17 AM PDT by Cheapskate ( Preserve your freedom! ! Slap down the NANNY STATE!)
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To: American Quilter

"if they just weren't allowed to vote."

Something else I'm working on!
Next election should suit them down to the ground.
Brown (dodgy) or Cameron (surrender monkey).

Perhaps Tony should declare himself PM for life.
For all his domestic mistakes, he is one guy I can rely on not to cut and run.


178 posted on 10/27/2006 9:41:54 AM PDT by UKRaddell (I might be movin' to Montana soon)
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To: TexasPatriot8

Don't forget Cardin and Bouchard!

Steele will win. Bouchard has a great shot.


179 posted on 10/27/2006 9:42:05 AM PDT by Republican Red (if you don't want to root for the home team then get the hell out of the stadium)
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To: mylife

They can try to make it go away, but they've already made a big deal about Foley. Too late, DUmmies!

180 posted on 10/27/2006 9:42:17 AM PDT by RasterMaster (Winning Islamic hearts and minds.........one bullet at a time!)
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