Old Vietnam Hands in Charge in Iraq

[Barrett808]

Old Vietnam Hands in Charge in Iraq
Some See War Experiences Affecting Policy
By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 3, 2004; Page A15

BAGHDAD -- A reunion of old hands from the Vietnam War is underway at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. It's almost become Saigon on the Tigris.

The new crowd running U.S. policy on post-occupation Iraq, in Baghdad and in Washington, all cut their teeth in Vietnam. The four top officials at the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad are military or diplomatic veterans of the Vietnam War: Ambassador John D. Negroponte; James F. Jeffrey, the embassy's second in command; Ronald E. Neumann, an Arabic speaker who gave up an ambassadorship in Bahrain to take charge of political-military affairs; and William B. Taylor Jr., head of the new Iraqi Reconstruction Management Office.

Negroponte's second posting was to Saigon, where he was political officer and resident expert on Vietnam's constituent assembly in the early 1960s. It was good preparation for Baghdad, because Iraq's first election in January will be for a national assembly. The performance of that body, which is to craft a new constitution, will be a pivotal test for Iraq's transition.

Jeffrey was an Army platoon leader with the group advising Vietnam's special forces in the early 1970s. After the Army, Jeffrey joined the Foreign Service and specialized in conflict management and prevention, especially in the Middle East and the Balkans.

"Over these past 33 years, in and out of uniform, I have tried . . . to ensure that diplomatic action and military options were fully balanced, coordinated and complementary," he said in 2002 Senate confirmation hearings to become ambassador to Albania.

(more)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35340-2004Aug2.html

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. They will have the opportunity to fail twice courtesy

of the good ol USA. Only in America.

[saigon68]

2. And the Light at the end of the Tunnel is?????????

[Karenina]

3. That toon says it all.

This is all so depressing. :cry:

[Jacobin]

4. Gee, it's hard to tell, isn't it?

[denverbill]

5. Oh, good, Negroponte.

He was an expert on Vietnam's consituent assembly eh? I guess that means Iraq will get about the same measure of 'democracy' Vietnam had back then.

The South Vietnamese really loved THAT democracy.

[saigon68]

6. YES ------- IT REALLY WORKED WELL?

</SARCASM>

[DinahMoeHum]

7. "Saigon on the Tigris". . .aka The Golden Ghetto. . .

completely cut off from the facts and the truths of ground-level Iraq and Iraqis.

It's "Ugly American" redux.


:evilfrown:

[Bo]

8. Ahhhhhh the smell of Napalm in the morning

Like I have been saying Its over, Iraq is lost.
Kerryis an idiot if he thinks hes going to fix it.He will have to pull out the troops eventually and he will look weak.

[saigon68]

9. Nothing will fix this mess

They will literally have to kill all the locals--- every last one.

[Jacobin]

11. It's so sad that it will take five more years of this for most people

to understand that we will NEVER be welcome in Iraq and that they will fight us to the death.

[geek tragedy]

10. Are McNamara and Westmoreland still available? n/t

[saigon68]

12. Only if they dig one of them up

VETERANS DAY 2002



Gen. Wm. Westmoreland, Commander of US troops in Vietnam

"I was quite honored to be asked to sing, "The RE-United States" at the Veterans Day Memorial Ceremony in Lexington, SC. It was a very rainy day, but the great people of Lexington stayed for the 1 1/2 hour ceremony, even when there were rumors of a tornado! I stood between Gen. Westmoreland & Gen. Tibbets as I sang, and when I was through, Gen. Westmoreland reached out to me to shake my hand. The sincerity coming from him will remain with me forever, and it was an honor to share the ceremony stage with these two influential military gentlemen." ...Maria Rose