Dangerously similar

The US President saw a second Vietnam in Iraq

US President George W. Bush for the first time acknowledged the similarities between the attacks on American soldiers in Iraq and the 1968 Vietnamese communist offensive on American positions during the Vietnam War. This eloquent confession was made yesterday in an interview with CBS.

The head of the White House admitted that the level of violence in Iraq has increased significantly. “The militants are trying to inflict maximum damage on allied troops in order to force them to leave Iraq. Al-Qaeda remains active. Its militants hope that they will be able to create such chaos in the country that the Americans will simply get tired of continuing the operation in Iraq, and this will force them to withdraw troops,” Bush said. But he rejected suggestions that the growing number of American soldiers and civilian casualties meant the entire Iraq campaign would fail. Bush reiterated his opposition to the "premature withdrawal" of US troops from Iraq.

The administration clearly did not want people to perceive signs of defeatism in this comparison. White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino said Bush's reference to Vietnam was primarily indicative of enemy propaganda during the Vietnamese advance in early 1968. "The President emphasized what he has said previously - the enemy is trying to shake our confidence," the White House statement said.

During the New Year's offensive in early 1968, Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese army fighters attacked American units in the south of the country. Even the US embassy in Saigon was attacked. The enemy offensive greatly undermined Washington's confidence in the possibility of victory, and President Lyndon Johnson's approval rating fell below 40%. On March 31, 1968, he announced that he would not seek re-election. According to a public opinion poll commissioned by CNN, 64% of Americans do not support continuing the Iraq war.

Major General Vladimir Belous, a leading researcher at the Center for International Security at IMEMO RAS, told Vremya Novostey that President Bush recognized the similarity of the situations in Vietnam and Iraq not because of a good life. “The US administration clearly does not know what to do next with Iraq. The goal of the war was never achieved. The American invasion brought neither peace nor democracy to Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction were found there, under the pretext of destroying which the aggression was launched. All this makes Americans wonder why so many American soldiers died and almost 600 thousand Iraqis were killed,” says Vladimir Belous.

VN’s interlocutor recalled that it was 1968 that became a turning point in the Vietnam War: “The losses suffered by the American army as a result of the New Year’s offensive forced the United States to abandon the war of attrition and gradually begin to prepare public opinion for an exit from the war. I think that Bush, despite all his statements that America will not leave Iraq until democracy wins, may be subconsciously preparing the opinion of the US elite and allies for the gradual withdrawal of coalition troops.” Vladimir Belous believes that Bush's words, spoken shortly before the midterm elections to the US Congress scheduled for November 7, were designed to attract voters. “However, the involuntary parallel between Vietnam and Iraq did not work to the advantage of the Republican administration. Many years have passed since the Vietnam War, but Americans remember the tens of thousands of soldiers who died in Vietnam. The ongoing war in Iraq and the daily losses of the American army may cause the Republicans to lose the elections,” our interlocutor concluded.

To date, the number of irreparable losses of the US Army since the invasion of coalition troops in Iraq in 2003 has reached 2,780 people, over 20 thousand people have been injured. Iraqi civilian casualties have not yet been accurately calculated. According to data obtained by the American Johns Hopkins University with the support of Iraqi researchers, casualties among the civilian population of Iraq range from 400 to 900 thousand people. The International Red Cross believes that in 2005, civilian casualties exceeded 100 thousand people. The White House believes that no more than 50 thousand civilians died in Iraq.

Victor VOLODIN