The Vietnam War

The Washington Post: Has a look at the policy process that lead to the Vietnam War and how the different actors down from President Johnson acted in the development of policy. In some respects this is about Afghanistan now, but one has to be careful about placing other wars in present context. This is not 1965 and the LBJ decision to send in the troops, this is 2009 and Obama already has sixty eight thousand troops in country and another forty thousand NATO troops. Also Vietnam has to been seen in the context of the Cold War and the domino theory for the region, while Afghanistan is about 9/11 and the loss of three thousand people in New York. Also the Obama Administration has stated that it is not taking troops out, also Afghanistan was the Just War of the Obama Presidential Campaign in 2008. If Obama losses Afghanistan he could lose Pakistan, a nuclear armed Pakistan in the hands of the Taliban/Al Qaeda would make Vietnam look like happy hour at your local pub. Thus in less Obama wants to be Neville Chamberlain he has no choice but to send the troops, the one lesson from Vietnam that the President should take is always tell the truth to the American voter. Read of the Day.