Is It Vietnam Yet?

By Cindy Sheehan
Created Oct 23 2006 - 2:49pm

With the mid-term elections looming dangerously close, and with public
opinion in opposition to George's failed foreign policies crossing the
two-thirds mark, the White House announced that they are going to present
their puppet government of Iraq with a "timetable" for US withdrawal. This
reminds me of Richard Nixon's "secret plan" to remove US troops from Vietnam
that he touted in his narrow electoral victory over Hubert Humphrey in 1968.

The US plan for withdrawing from Iraq would include disarming militias and
training more Iraqi security forces to take over security of the country -
which sounds suspiciously like Nixon's "Vietnamization" program. With the
incipient warmonger Kissinger (we were wondering why Iraq was such an
unmitigated disaster?) back in the Oval Office advising George, does this
smell like a fiasco to anyone else?

Unbelievably, even though my own son was killed in Iraq, I am often told
that the US deaths in this young century's first conflict for profit are
"negligible" compared to Vietnam, or a "drop in the bucket." I have terrible
news for these reich-wing carnage confederates: Iraq is even deadlier for US
forces than Vietnam. In the first 3 years 7 months of the illegal and
immoral occupation of Iraq, 2,791 of our volunteer soldiers have been
tragically killed, and in the first 4 years of the illegal and immoral
conflict in Vietnam (which was never a "war" Constitutionally declared by
Congress either), 1,864 conscripts were killed.

The disparity in KIAs is huge, and the implications of this make me
nauseous. October is turning into one of the grisliest months for soldiers
and citizens in Iraq. With Henry Kissinger visiting Georgie on a
semi-regular basis, and with the beat of the death-drums pounding for Iran,
we can recall Nixon's invasion of Cambodia and the resulting carnage in
Southeast Asia and the violent protests (i.e., Kent State) here at home.
Apparently Nixon's "secret plan" was increased slaughter, and I shudder to
think of George's plans for peace.

In 2000 dollars, the Congressional hacks of the War Machine splurged 161
billions of our dollars in the 14 years that Vietnam dragged disastrously
on. However, that is a paltry sum. So far, in 2006 dollars, Congress has
deliriously wasted almost 340 billions of dollars! The War Machine is busy
laundering the blood out of their money before they make a deposit in the
National Bank of Lost Hopes and Dreams.

The other similarities to Vietnam prove the old adage that those who do not
learn from history are doomed to repeat it. In 1967, Robert McNamara, JFK's
and LBJ's Secretary of War and prime architect of the Vietnam mistake, left
his post as primary civilian death deliverer to become president of the
World Bank. Similarly, assistant Secretary of War and prime architect,
cheerleader, and liar of the Iraqi mistake Paul Wolfowitz left his post in
the War Department for the apparent next logical step of president of the
World Bank. Evidently, it is not only in BushCo that one's penchant for
butchery is rewarded handsomely!

Across the country, our fellow Americans despair that "young people" aren't
involved in the anti-war movement, or there isn't as much activism as there
was during the Vietnam years. Historically, the anti-war movement is much
more active and relevant in this conflict than in the same time period
during Vietnam. There were enormous demonstrations before the invasion of
Iraq, because millions of people around the world did not want to be
witnesses to another bloody struggle and did not want killing waged in their
names. I, myself, have been involved in enormous demonstrations just in the
last year. As the news coverage on the ground in Iraq vastly differs from
the news coverage in Vietnam (I remember the daily dosage of nightly news
regarding Vietnam - with uncensored footage), so does the coverage of the
anti-war movement, which is terribly underreported.

Recently, Congressmembers from California wrote a letter to Rumbo to request
that the Pentagon remove embedded reporters from CNN out of Iraq because,
surprisingly, CNN showed some ghastly footage of Iraqi snipers targeting US
troops. No one wants to see death as it happens (unless it's fictional), and
increasingly, Americans are realizing that just because we are not shown the
shocking images does not mean that they are not happening. We are beginning
to come out of the media-induced coma and contradict BushCo's perception
that Iraq is a hotbed of happiness and democracy. No, we the people are
realizing that the criminals who put our young people in an avoidable
situation are the ones to blame, and the shocking images will stop when our
troops are brought home!

In Vietnam, we saw a Lieutenant convicted and later pardonned for war crimes
in the horrors of My Lai. In Iraq, we have seen a few privates and
specialists be similarly prosecuted for such horrors as Abu Ghraib. After
Vietnam, Nixon, Johnson, McNamara, Kissinger, etc. should have been
prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. We all know what
happened to each of them. Kissinger won a Nobel Peace Prize, McNamara went
on to the World Bank and the presidents retired in infamy to their estates
to a cozy lifetime with their families. Did any of them have regrets,
nightmares or feelings of abject guilt? Probably not, but we do know for
certain that none of them went to prison. For this quagmire of Iraq, we the
people must make sure that BushCo cannot retire to their ranches (in
Crawford or Paraguay) or estates to live lives of relative ease. They must
be prosecuted and imprisoned for the murders that their policies and greed
have caused. Wars for profit will not end until those responsible for
causing them are forced to face their mistakes and pay for them.

During the '60s we were told to be afraid, very afraid, of the Commun"ists."
Now we are being bombarded daily with convenient and politically expedient
warnings of the Terror"ists." In 1968, a small majority of the electorate
chose to believe Nixon and his "secret plan" to exit Vietnam: a plan which
killed almost 50 thousand more American soldiers before he was done and
untold millions of Vietnamese. Now, we are supposed to believe known and
proven liars about their "timetable" for eventual withdrawal of US troops
from Iraq. How many more of our human treasure (Iraqi, American, Muslim,
Christian, Brown, Black and White) will be wasted before our elected
officials decide to pull the plug on this one? Do not vote out of fear next
month. Vote with your courage for candidates who are loudly anti-war and
pro-accountability.

In 1975, the gut-wrenching debacle in Vietnam finally ended when Congress
closed the treasury to killing. There is a proposed bill, HR4232 (McGovern,
D-Mass.) to cut the funding for continued killing in Iraq. Pressure your
Congressperson to support this bill. It is the only way to bring our troops
home, close the permanent bases and put the War Machine out of business,
temporarily.

Statistically, twice as many Vietnam vets have committed suicide as were
killed in actual combat. We need to insure that some of the billions we are
handing over to Halliburton, Bechtel, Boeing, Exxon, etc. will hyper-fund
the VA so this tragedy is averted for Iraq vets. We need to make sure our
vets' lives are as comfortable as their civilian leaders' lives are
uncomfortable.

So many people approach me and say: "I never thought this would happen again
after Vietnam." I always ask them, "Why?" After the troops limped home from
Southeast Asia, badly wounded, physically and emotionally, the anti-war
movement went home, too. The anti-war movement cannot rest on its laurels
this time. We need to transform the anti-war movement into a radical peace
movement to make sure unending wars for greed never "happen again!"

Is Iraq "Vietnam yet?" Yes and no. Yes, that people are dying for no reason
and the continued death is justified by not "cutting and running." Yes, that
families are being destroyed and our treasury is not only being emptied, but
is trillions in the red. But also, no ...

... Iraq is worse than Vietnam.

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson