This is Stupid
In a press conference, President Bush was asked whether he agreed with a Thomas Friedman editorial that argued this month's violence in Iraq was "the jihadist equivalent of the Tet offensive." Bush resoponded, "He could be right. There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election."

In yet another example of mainstream media lameness, there are now 69 links on Google News to articles with headlines that read along the lines of "Bush Compares Iraq to Vietnam."

Why does a thoughtful answer result in scare headlines? When the speaker is president Bush, of course.

Just remember, the Tet offensive was a military disaster for the North Vietnamese army. They were effectively destroyed as an organized fighting force after Tet. It was the American media however, that depicted this event as a defeat for US forces and eventually led to American withdrawal.

While there is sectarian violence in Iraq, we're making headway, there's no denying it. While it has been at the cost of American lives, it is only a tiny fraction of of American casualties in southeast asia. Portraying the Iraq war effort as a failure is yet another example of the fecklessness of the American media.

In this regard Iraq is similar to Tet, not in the way some dopey reporter thinks.
- posted by Base10 @ 12:16 PM