"By God we've kicked that Viet Nam Syndrome once & for all"

[mopaul]

That's an actual quote from the beloved daddybush, after his glorious military 'victory' in the first bushwar, the Gulf War.
(not mentioning el Salvador, or Guatemala, or Panama here)
Daddybush seemed giddy delivering that stupid line.

First it assumes that there IS such a thing as the Viet Nam syndrome.
Apparently it refers to the bad taste it left in the mouths of Americans. Soldiers seen, not as heroes, but conquerers. A war that couldn't be declared won. A disaster that took 58,000 U.S. soldiers lives. A syndrome not of pride, but shame.

And daddybush declared victory in the Gulf War, even though he let Saddam go to kill again. And he declared an end to the awful, painful Viet Nam Syndrome.

I believe the bush crew is STILL trying to kick the so called syndrome. And they are re-creating Viet Nam in Iraq to get back some sort of macho charge out of kicking some ass and trying out some new toys on real people, and making beau coup cash, and showing our hardon to the world. WE are the champions of the world! WE are the ruling class, the uberman, the master race! OUR God is manifest. YOUR land is OUR land, God gave this land to US!

We know Iraq is not Viet Nam, and although comparisons will be made and debated, there are many frightening parallels.

This is no way to 'kick' the Viet Nam Syndrome, this is just another way of bringing it right back from the dead, draft and all.

[oblivious]

1. "By God we've kicked that Viet Nam Syndrome...so far"

"Trying to eliminate Saddam ... would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. ... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. ... There was no viable 'exit strategy' we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."

- George Bush Sr, after the Gulf War

[Kolesar]

2. "The right wing cannot do what they do without an enemy" --Gore Vidal eom