In Vietnam-Era Files, Parallels of Anxiety

[unhappycamper]

"Some of the parallels are almost eerie,'' Kerry said in an interview yesterday, "and I think all of us can learn an enormous amount from the way our predecessors dealt with questions very similar to those we face today.''


In Vietnam-Era Files, Parallels of Anxiety
by Bryan Bender
Published on Thursday, July 15, 2010 by The Boston Globe

WASHINGTON - The CIA director predicted it would be a "long war.'' A senator from Missouri, expressing concern about the unconventional nature of the fighting, wanted to know, "Who is the enemy?'' A senator from Tennessee, meanwhile, warned that if the American people were being misled that "the consequences are very great.''

The words were uttered in secret more than 40 years ago during private meetings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the Vietnam War. But they were made public for the first time yesterday by Senator John F. Kerry, now the panel's chairman, out of a belief that the lively debates offer lessons for how to grapple today with the war in Afghanistan and other hot spots.

"Some of the parallels are almost eerie,'' Kerry said in an interview yesterday, "and I think all of us can learn an enormous amount from the way our predecessors dealt with questions very similar to those we face today.''

The transcripts provide a window into how senators wrestled privately with some of the most vexing questions about the Vietnam War, including basic issues such as what the war was about, how much it would cost in lives and dollars, and what victory might look like.

Many of controversial questions that emerged in the previously classified transcripts are being raised anew. For example, there was widespread confusion about who the United States was fighting in Vietnam, not unlike in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is joined by a host of other insurgent groups with differing agendas. There were also deepening doubts about the credibility of official assessments of the political and security situation, and shifting reasons for why the United States was even there - concerns that have a familiar ring today.



unhappycamper comment: Here's the report: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_senate_committee_prints&docid=f:34737.pdf