Cal Thomas Editorial

Cal Thomas' editorial today took the view that Iraq and Vietnam are similar from the standpoint that the terrorists need only wait out the American resolve to win."We lost the war in Vietnam when we lost our will and failed to implement a plan for victory."Mr. Thomas goes further to state that there were no lasting effects from our withdrawal from Vietnam."There were no lasting negative effects on the United States, other than 58 thousand dead Americans, but that failed effort is one of several post-World War II withdrawals by American forces prior to achieving objectives that inspired Osama bin Laden and his bloody terrorist brothers to believe that we are weak and so can be made to precipitously quit Iraq."What is needed is to remove our troops before there are 58,000 dead. The effects of Vietnam are still with the generation that fought there. We know that we will leave Iraq. We know that young people will continue to die until we do leave. We know that as soon as we do leave it will fall due to civil war or to its neighbors. We know that the Middle East has been unstable and will continue to be unstable regardless of our best efforts or intentions. We know that a democracy in the region is, at best, a distant hope. We know that this war is not going as planned and there is no better alternative besides staying longer and watching the American death toll continue to rise.It is time for an honest assessment of our involvement in Iraq and to reach the conclusion that we have now become the very catalyst for what it is we wanted to prevent. Terrorism has taken the hope for democracy hostage.