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Home Front: Politix
Iraq a Quagmire, Cliton tells Ladies Home Journal
2005-10-06
Former President and current underminer of succcessors, Bill Clinton says Iraq "looks like a quagmire," and estimates "the odds are not great of our prevailing there."

But, speaking for an interview that appears in the November issue of Ladies Home Journal, Clinton qualified his quagmire remark by saying, "It's not Vietnam."
It depends on what the definition of quagmire is
"The reason this is not Vietnam is that 58% of the eligible voters showed up and voted in Iraq," Clinton told the magazine. The South Vietnamese government was "never legitimate" in the eyes of the Vietnamese, he said.
I know some boat people who might quibble with that
The former President, who has teamed up with President Bush's father to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina and last December's Indian Ocean tsunami, said the key to success is getting the Iraqis to defend themselves against the insurgents.
"Then, after we're out of the country we pull all the funding for their army and if anything bad happens we can blame it on them. Worked for us last time."
"Having said that, it could go wrong," Clinton admitted. "Since the end of World War II, the only major foreign power that succeeded in putting down an insurgency was the British putting down the Malay insurgency, but the British stayed 15 years.
Gee, we've been in Germany, Japan and Italy for 60 years now. And Algeria over the GSPC doesn't count.
"So you can say for historical reasons, the odds are not great of our prevailing there," Clinton pointed out.
"Cause us Democrats will undermine any effort that might last longer than the current administration. We'll turn tail faster than you can say Mogadishu."
Clinton's spokesman told the Daily News yesterday his boss remains staunchly committed to a U.S. victory in Iraq.
Can Bubba have a redo?
EFL
Posted by:Mrs. Davis

#11  IOW, Hillary wants and needs to be POTUS, and Al-Qaeda Spetzlamists can't attack America with WMDS or dirty nukes fast enough, i.e. its almost 2008, D*** YOU, and Commie Billary is falling behind schedule to turn America SOCIALIST. MIdWesties from Fascist Socialist Washington's sacred Communist-LeftSocialist heartland are a'waitin, people! POSITIONS, GIRLZ, POSITIONS, TAKE YOUR POSITIONS! Iran and North Korea are all but demanding the USA invade them while Cindy all but demands for Fascism = De-Regulated Communism/
Socialism, etal. i.e. GOOD FASCISTS,Lefties to wage anarchy and civil war to take back America from Dubya and his BAD FASCISTS!?

Anyhoo, in defense of the South Vietnamese government, however defective it was Americans must remember that neither the Commie Northies nor the COSVN VC cadres gen never used or accurately explained the terms "Socialism",
"Marxism", or "Communism", etc. when in front of mostly uneducated Southies. They loved to disguise their despotism and thuggery behind feel-good everyman/populist labels as "democracy", "nationalism", "freedoms" and "rights of the People/Masses", ...etc.
AMERICA AND ITS PUPPET SOUTHERN GOVERNMENT IS DENYING EVERY VIETNAMESE THEIR RIGHT TO BE UNIFIED AND DEMOCRATIC,.........@ - no different than the so-called RINO's, Repubs-in-Name-Only, or DINO's, Democratists-in-Name-Only, i.e. pol TROJAN HORSES, of today. NORTH KOREA is by any measure an unincorporated or unannexed province or territory of the PRC, while formerly pro-USSR unified Vietnam is well on its way to being another Norkie-style PC Chicom slave state, where SLAVE = FRIEND/COMRADE in SOCIALISM. The Vietnam Conflict is a "Civil War" only within the narrow context that the overwhelming majority of ordinary South Vietnamese, and many in the North for that matter, didn't know what Communism or Socialism truly meant. The Communist regimes in these nations are STILL NOT telling their societies that their peoples have de facto lost any historical fight for independence andor any independence from China!? The Viets and Norkies are "Chinese" citizens in everything except legal or public description.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2005-10-07 00:27  

#10  As near as I can tell, the reason there's an Israel but not a South Vietnam is the US did provide support in '73 but didn't place MacNamara (and his ilk in the Republican party) in charge to make decisions like "Don't capture the Golan" or "tanks are offensive weapons and therefore destabilizing..."

As it is I wonder if Kissinger didn't somehow sow the seeds for later failure...
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-10-06 19:48  

#9  The donk controlled house and senate also cut off all funding for them after the illustrious class of 1974 was elected. As a result, the Vietnamese could not afford the ammo and supplies necessary to resist. They had done pretty well until we cut them off at the knees. The big difference between Vietnam and Iraq is that the Democrats haven't had the opportunity to betray the Iraqis yet. But they will when they can.
Posted by: Omutch Snuter7689   2005-10-06 18:43  

#8  As for his reference to the govt of the Rep of VN, with all due respect to the boat people who were chased out by totalitarians, he is spot on. That IS one of the big differences between VN and Iraq.

IF we adjusted the Iraqi constitution to Syria's liking as was suggested in the other thread there wouldn't be a difference.

South Vietnam fell mainly because we set up their armed forces as an infantry force dependent on US artillery, air, and logistics support to deal with any plausible combined arms force (like the one the North Vietnamese Army used) and withdrew our support when it was needed.

Imagine if the Yom Kippur War had happened in 1975 instead of 1973, and there was Soviet resupply via airlift and sealift to Syria and Egypt but no corresponding US airlift to Israel. And imagine that happening after fifteen years of low-intensity and high-intensity conflict where Israel had been kept from taking the Golan during the 1967 war _by the US_ because that would have been "aggressive" rather than "defensive." S. Vietnam _never_ got to counterattack the North, or do anything but sit there and bleed.

I wonder, if all of that happened, would there be people sitting around today blaming the loss on the alleged corruption of the Meir administration?
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-10-06 18:23  

#7  "LOOKS like a quagmire"

well it does LOOK like a quagmire. That doesnt meant it IS one, and Bill didnt say that it IS one, only that it looks like one. We can only discern that its NOT a quagmire, by looking at more subtle things than body counts, things like the political process, which Bill speficially mentions. And if you think thats too jesuitical a reading, youve forgotten who Bill Clinton IS.


As for his reference to the govt of the Rep of VN, with all due respect to the boat people who were chased out by totalitarians, he is spot on. That IS one of the big differences between VN and Iraq.

as for Germany, Italy, and Japan, there werent major insurgencies there. And Algeria vs the GPSC didnt involve a foreign power putting down an insurgency.

Bottom line - keep committed to victory, but be prepared for a long haul.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2005-10-06 17:15  

#6  Just how long have we been into that one year mission to Bosnia or Kosovo? Thanks Bill for a real mafia and islamist quagmire.
Posted by: ed   2005-10-06 16:49  

#5  Bill Clinton was as about as effective as the cigar he used on Monica.
There was movement, but very little got done.

Kinda like a monkey trying to fuck a football.
Posted by: mmurray821   2005-10-06 16:48  

#4  Former President Bill Clinton says Iraq "looks like a quagmire," and estimates "the odds are not great of our prevailing there."

When Bill was president, the odds of us prevailing anywhere were ZERO.

Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-10-06 16:10  

#3  Hmmm, a Freudian slip in the headline? Louie shouldn't take a stroll in Fort Marcy Park anytime soon, me thinks.
Posted by: ET   2005-10-06 15:42  

#2  Bubba should shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down.

He had his chance and blew it big time now is not the time for this shit.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2005-10-06 15:40  

#1  Bubba is a freakin' punk.

Just wait until the Louis Freeh book gets released. I predict that Bubba bites his lip and limps into his hole for a while.
Posted by: Captain America   2005-10-06 15:30  

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