I think your conclusion is Yon's problem. He sees Vietnam coming.
I translate this as-- he will interpretively help it come along.
I think Afghanistan and Iraq have been catastrophic successes.
The anti war fools that dominate our discourse have suffered and absolutely stunning set of defeats. The easy roll back of the Taliban and the paper tiger army of Saddam has left the anti military culture of our time mad as hell.
Consequently, we are treated to the most absurd exaggerations of failure in these theaters in order to re establish the war is hopeless hell meme.
Carl Levin, the lead Dem in the Senate said a minimum of 10,000 US troops would die in the first six months of taking Bagdad.
That was just a shade wrong.
Al Qaeda promised to establish an Islamic Western office in the nation state of iraq. Now they have a four percent approval rating among the Iraqi public and they are getting whipped by everone from Anbar chieftains to Sunni Baathists of Bagdad.
The fact that mistakes have been made by the US are hardly as interesting as the COMPLETE FAILURE to report the crushing defeats of our enemies in AFghanistan and Iraq and the unsurpassed heroism of our American troops in achieving these victories.
Michael Yon can get a clue and start acknowledging the HEROISM that forms a thread of success. He does not need to supply the desperate subtext of Vietnam. It ain't there-- except for Al Qaeda. Mark my words, Iraq was Al Qaeda's Vietnam. They are done for.
I translate this as-- he will interpretively help it come along.
That's sort of like being surprised when someone fleeing a burning building exits using the only available door. Yon is now in the position of Joe Galloway or Charlie Black after Vietnam; they went on to cover other conflicts admirably; we'll see what happens with Yon.
The Army similarly thought nasty things about Keyes Beech when his Chicago Daily News reportage blew the whistle on high-level misdoings and outright corruption during the Korean War, but it was clear that Beech was driven by a desire to protect the American soldiers who were suffering as a result. That sort of noble motivation is possible with Yon, but is certainly less apparent.