[BCPVP]

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1) We should have stayed the course in Vietnam but did not. Facing a similar situation today, we should stay the course.

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This seems to support my assertion, no?

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2) Vietnamization should have been implemented from the beginning, and was a good idea. Iraqification should have been implemented from the beginning, and is a good idea.

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True. But in Vietnam, it went from being a Vietnamese war to being an American one and then us leaving. In Iraq it's the opposite. It started as an American war and the plan is to make it an Iraqi one.

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3) Both wars got off to bad starts because they were based on faulty intelligence assessments.

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I can't argue with this one, but the circumstances surrounding the starts are different. One could say that WWII should be comparable because it got started because of faulty intelligence. But many a lib has balked when Iraq is compared to WWII.

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4) In both wars, the administrations did poor jobs at "marekting the war" to the public. Bush can learn from the mistakes of Vietnam in this respect.

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I'll concede this one, but I don't feel it's of major significance. By that I mean, you can't point to that and say "Aha! Iraq is another Vietnam!"

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5) In both wars, one of the most difficult tasks was "building a new society from the ground up." The societies intended were different but some general lessons can be drawn.

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While certainly a difficult task in Iraq, I think the comparison is weak at best for Vietnam.