Ithaca Blog

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Obama's Vietnam Starts Now

This week, tens of thousands of Americans soldiers are leaving for Afghanistan to fulfill the Obama's administration's planned surge there.

It is wrong, strictly, to speak of a plan. Events of the last week have shown that at the highest levels of the government and military, there is no plan whatsoever.

It seems hackneyed at this point, or at least painfully obvious, to draw comparison to Vietnam. Yet the case is exactly the same.

The only thing different is the volunteer army. This is the sole lesson the government learned from Vietnam. Make sure only poor people die. That will quell dissent.

Last week, addressing the nation about the oil leak, President Obama asked Americans for prayers. He hasn't asked for any for the war. Here his hope is for silence.

Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog

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