I must share the pain.
(note) you might want to have a lager heafty bag handy.
The Ghosts of War
http://chronicle.com/free/v50/i44/44b01201.htm
By CHRISTIAN G. APPY
For three decades American leaders have tried to bury memories of the Vietnam War only to have them pop up again like indestructible poltergeists. In 1991, for example, a few days after the Persian Gulf War came to its apparent end, President George H.W. Bush declared a double victory. Not only had the United States driven Iraqi forces out of Kuwait, he trumpeted, but we had also managed to vanquish the ghostly memories of a war that was lost a generation earlier on the other side of the planet. "The specter of Vietnam has been buried forever in the desert sands of the Arabian Peninsula," the president said.
The only similarity I see between Vietnam and Iraq is the policy not to bomb targets of the enemy openly and without mercy.
Of course, Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bush Sr. did make enough specific statements to fuel right-wing claims that America failed in Vietnam because our soldiers were "denied permission to win" (Reagan) or fought "with one hand tied behind their backs" (Bush Sr.). They further suggested, often with coded indirection, that antiwar protesters, a weak-kneed liberal Congress, and near-treasonous media had betrayed our nation and its soldiers.
Fuel right-wing claims?! If the writer would read history as it happened and policy of the Johnson Admin. he would see these statements are true.
I need more coffee.