Lessons from history.Follow

"Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left,"

"There are many differences between the wars we fought in the Far East and the war on terror we are fighting today," Bush said. "But one important similarity is that at their core, they are all ideological struggles.

"The militarists of Japan and the Communists in Korea and Vietnam were driven by a merciless vision for the proper ordering of humanity. They killed Americans because we stood in the way of their attempt to force this ideology on others."

Former presidential adviser David Gergen said Bush ran the risk of doing as much harm as good for his case.

"By invoking Vietnam he raised the question, 'if you learned so much from history, how did you ever get us involved in another quagmire?' " Gergen said.

the bottom line is, he wants to maintain the status quo untill after the next election.

if he pulls out before then, he admits he made a bad mistake that will stain the republican party for decades to come. he will say whatever it takes to throw up a smoke screen and make the issues blurry untill he leaves office. it is on his best intrest to, it is in the partys best interest to.

Iraq is a political war, just like Vietnam was. not a war of necessity or defense, but a war of ideals. and like all wars of ideals, it is the innocent people just trying to feed their famileys that pay the ultimate price for someone elses "vision".

look how effectively they move the media AWAY from questions of why and if we should be there in the first place. they blow it off as if it no longer matters. why and if ARE the ideals we are fighting on the ground right now. they DO matter. they matter to the people of iraq, they matter to their neibhors.

and most of all, there SHOULD be accountability. there wont be, but there SHOULD be. hundreds of thousands of human beings are DEAD. why they are DEAD does matter. if they should have died does matter.

someone SHOULD be held accountable.