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Tet

The apparently popular notion that recent guerrilla strikes in Iraq bear similarities to Tet is succinctly laid to rest this morning by Juan Cole. Here's a paragraph from his Informed Comment blog:

"The current guerrilla war against US troops and the new Iraqi government isn't at all like the Tet offensive. It is deadly serious. Because the US military is not defeating the guerrillas militarily any more. They have succeeded in provoking an unconventional, hot civil war, which was their "poison pill" strategy for getting the US out. The US has alienated the Sunni Arab population decisively. In summer of 2003, only 14 percent of them supported violent attacks on US troops. In a recent poll, 70 percent supported such attacks. And, the guerrilla movement is well-heeled, well-trained, and adaptive.''

You can find Juan Cole's daily analysis at www.juancole.com or write him direct at jrcole@umich.edu.

Comments

This may not really compare to tet, but the one thing a lot of people don't seem to realize is that nam was run by the CIA, they took over running wars,they are running this one and thats why there are so many war crimes being commited as in nam! That is why the powers are trying to exempt the CIA from the laws that were put in place back when the Third Reich was put down.It shouldn't come as any surprise that this Fourth Reich wouldn't try to insulate itself from those laws

Posted by: Ranselar VanDerpoel on 10/20/06 at 7:00 AM

I don't understand how the paragraph James posted disputes the Tet comparison. It pretty much confirms the comparison to me.

But, Tet, not Tet, it's a pretty unimportant point for anyone outside the Beltway isn't it? We're losing Iraq like we lost Vietnam for the same basic reasons.

And when Iraq falls we won't be any less safe than we were when Vietnam fell. Once again we'll be bruised and battered and betrayed and broke by a cause that was ill-defined and lost from the start.

Posted by: Scott on 10/20/06 at 3:20 PM