Christopher Hitchins:"To invoke Vietnam was a blunder too far for Bush"

[farmbo]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2156398,00.html




The Presidents's crass comparison between Iraq and war in south east Asia was the most ludicrous misreading of history

Christopher Hitchens
Sunday August 26, 2007
The Observer


How do I dislike President George Bush? Let me count the ways. Most of them have to do with his contented assumption that 'faith' is, in and of itself, a virtue. This self-satisfied mentality helps explain almost everything, from the smug expression on his face to the way in which, as governor of Texas, he signed all those death warrants without losing a second's composure.<snip>

In this real-world argument, there is a very strong temptation for opponents of the war to invoke the lessons of Vietnam. I must have written thousands of words attempting to show that there is absolutely no analogy between the two conflicts.

Then, addressing the convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars last week, the President came thundering down the pike to announce that a defeat in Iraq would be - guess what? - another Vietnam. As my hand smacks my brow, and as I ask myself not for the first time if Mr Bush suffers from some sort of political death wish, I quickly restate the reasons why he is wrong to join with his most venomous and ignorant critics in making this case.<snip>

Ouch! And from one of Bush's Best Butt Buddies who cheerled us into Iraq.

[Imagine My Surprise]

1. What exactly is a Butt Buddy?

[Vogon_Glory]

4. Something vulgar and indecent. n/t

[Imagine My Surprise]

7. I just wondered if this was a less than veiled gay reference...

in which case, some of us would not be amused.

[niceypoo]

8. An ass kisser

[Vogon_Glory]

2. Isn't Hitchens Cute?

Isn't Hitchens cute? So now, after hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, a country riven by ethnic and sectarian violence, and as the killings and sufferings continue, Hitchens finally begins to get a faint glimmer of what Hell on Earth the rest of us saw long, long before the balloon went up and Gee Dubya sent in the troops?

I have no sympathy for Hitchens, and I remember that some of the lower-level Nazi propagandists were tried and sentenced after World War II for the sorts of propaganda work that Hitchens has been conveying since 2003.


:thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :nopity:

[Imagine My Surprise]

3. I agree. It's hard to know just what Hitchens believes at any given...

moment. It's my understanding that he was a protege of sorts of Gore Vidal and that they had a huge falling when Hitchens made an extreme right turn. Evidently he's trying back-peddle, and in typical fashion, hopes (or believes we're dumb enough) no one remembers what he'd said just a few months ago.

[ginnyinWI]

5. yeah I know, I agree, however

it's nicer to see these types jumping ship than hanging on. Coming late to the party, but every defection hurts the little bugger in the WH some more.

[Donnachaidh]

6. Hitchens the drunken sot must have been getting banned from all the right parties

This sudden about face is not to be trusted.

He's one of the premiere propagandists for the neocons and Bush -- and now *all of a sudden* he doesn't like the man?

Sorry Hitchens -- too little, too fucking late dude.

[Mist]

9. I think it was never about Hitchens liking *, but more about Hitchens

hating Arabs. Hitchens is on the "save Western culture" bandwagon. Oh, and he's a drunken sot.

[Imagine My Surprise]

10. This may or may not be the same thing, but I HAD a friend in NYC...

who was and would now claim to be Mr. Liberal. However, when 9/11 occurred and I told him that a friend of mine's father who works at the Pentagon told his family NOT to get on a plane a few days before 9/11, "Mr. Liberal" went ballistic on me and thought I was just nuts to think such a thing. I didn't "think" it, this was a true story.

[smirkymonkey]

12. Exactly - they were his friends while they were carrying out his

agenda. His beloved culture was being overrun by Muslims; and Hitchens, with his mortal fear of all things Religious (I can't blame him there) saw that the neocons were on his side in that department. That's why he was so gung-ho about the war. I don't think he is a "toe-the-party-line" type of guy.

Whatever power is behind his individual political agenda, that is who he will align himself with.

[Donnachaidh]

14. true -- he is a more vocal "kill then a-rabs" sort

But I do factor in the fact that even amongst the *set* he wants to belong, this war is becoming something to hate, and poor dear Chrissy-poo may be changing his tone *only* to stay in with his *class*.

I haven't read his latest book yet, but evidently his hatred for organized religions is giving his hatred of arabs a run for it's money.

[Jim__]

11. Hitchens is condemning bush's comparison to withdrawal from Vietnam.

He is still 100% behind our invasion of Iraq.

[AX10]

13. Yes he is.