Political Bashing

Recently President Bush compared the growing Insurgency in Iraq to the Tet Offensive in 1968.

In January of 1968, the Tet (Vietnamese lunar new year) Offensive was launched. All over South Vietnam, communist forces attacked US and ARVN military bases as well as many provincial and regional capitals. Communist forces also penetrated the US Embassy and the Presidential Palace in Saigon.

Here is something to consider: Tet was a military victory for the Americans. In less than three months they had recaptured all lost cities and bases. The communist forces lost more than 58 000 men, the same amount of men that America lost during its total time in Vietnam. The Viet Cong ceased to exist as a major fighting force.

However, it was a public relations victory for the communists. They knew that 1968 was an election year and the President Johnson required public support for the war. Americans were shocked by the bloody footage they saw on t.v. that many began to oppose the war. Johnson then announced that he would not seek the Democratic nomination for the 1968 Presidential election. Seven years later, the communist forces captured Saigon and re-united Vietnam as a communist country.

Now let us look at Iraq. In a matter of days, Americans go to the polls for the midterm congressional elections. The war in Iraq is becoming very unpopular with the American public and the Iraqi insurgents know this. What Bush is saying is that the current spike in violence is an attempt to turn voters against the war, thus they will vote for people who want to withdraw troops from Iraq. If that happens, then the insurgents win. See the similarities between 2006 and 1968? I normally do not say this, but Bush does make a good point.