The Iraq occupation: Myth of the quagmire

Needless to say, America's occupation of Iraq has taken a turn for the worse. Our soldiers continue to be attacked daily, and many Iraqis have gone from supporting our cause to joining the chorus of violent anti-American protests. Next week, President Bush will likely make concessions to Presidents Chirac and Schroeder regarding the sharing of power and division of responsibilities that were unthinkable even weeks ago. Donald Rumsfeld has all but disappeared from the public eye since his proclamation that there is no developing "quagmire" in Iraq. Public support for America's actions in Iraq has taken a nosedive, and the Bush that recently seemed undefeatable seems suddenly vulnerable.

But while the situation in Iraq is obviously troubling, the repeated references to a "quagmire" and other indirect comparisons to Vietnam are both factually inaccurate and subversive to the nation's interests. They had led to a sense of impending doom that the reality in Iraq does not warrant. Attempts to compare the situation in Iraq with one of the darkest chapters in American history are ultimately politically motivated, and should be looked at with a more critical eye.

In order to understand the true nature of "quagmire" comments, we must first examine the political environment in which they were made. Columnists such as Eleanor Clift have been frustrated with President Bush's prolonged invulnerability to criticism post-9/11, and reporters critical of the administration were continually flustered by Donald Rumsfeld's repeated (while perhaps not always entirely honest) dodging of their questions. In short, prior to the Iraq invasion the Bush administration's war stance had weakened the position of the liberal punditry and press. Since the Iraq occupation has run into difficulty, comparisons to Vietnam have been especially seductive for liberal critics.

Admittedly, there are some similarities between the situation in Iraq and our experience in Vietnam, namely an elusive enemy who strikes at our forces and disappears before we can destroy him. However, the numbers tell a completely different story. At the time of this writing, we have lost 304 American soldiers in Iraq, including those killed by accidents and disease. In Vietnam, there we almost 60,000 American servicemen killed. It has been six months since the invasion of Iraq began; the United States was engaged in active combat in Vietnam for almost a decade. In Iraq, American forces destroyed Saddam Hussein's army within a matter of weeks, and control the majority of the country. In Vietnam, American forces almost never crossed into North Vietnam, and never controlled large portions of the country outside the major cities. Similarities exist, but not on the scale to justify a direct comparison. In addition to the quagmire comments being misleading, they are particularly insidious because they invoke memories of one of the most painful periods in American history. Vietnam destroyed the nation's confidence in itself, and bred a generation of jaded and angry youth. While it is true that the situation in Iraq is dangerous for the nation, comments such as these create a defeatist atmosphere which brings us closer to failing in our responsibilities there. A comparison such as this should aim to highlight existing similarities between two situations and not help make the claim a reality.

Unfortunately, some who hear "quagmire" comments are also likely to be inspired by them. As our enemies learned from Vietnam and Somalia, the American people are not very patient when faced with American casualties outside of our immediate national interest. Comparisons such as this not only help erode public support for the effort in Iraq, they give a further incentive for terrorists to attack U.S. interests. If small-scale attacks on U.S. forces are successful in weakening U.S. resolve, they will simply increase until the United States withdraws. That would reinforce a terrible precedent. Attacks on the United Nations headquarters in Iraq were completely successful in destroying the U.N. commitment to station aid workers in the country (despite Kofi Annan's proclamation to the contrary), and their force in-country has been reduced to a skeleton staff. This type of behavior only proves that terrorism "works" from the perspective of the terrorist. The United States cannot fall to the same type of pressure, because it would legitimate terrorist attacks as a successful counter to any U.S. action.

Instead of trying to invoke the painful memories of a time long passed to hurt the administration, the pundits should be saying what the Bush administration should do to prevent Iraq from further resembling Vietnam. We may have invaded Iraq for all the wrong reasons, but we must stay for all the right ones. The entire world, including its terrorists, is watching our actions in Iraq very closely. If we can overcome our early mistakes in Iraq and help create a stable and prosperous nation, it will do much towards restoring our international legitimacy and dampening anti-American sentiment worldwide. If we bend to the pressure and fail in our responsibilities, it will show that America will bow to terrorists, and will embolden our enemies worldwide. While not necessarily the cause of our problems, comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam are unwarranted and subversive to both American and Iraqi interests. While we may not be doing everything right, it's unfair to declare Iraq is another Vietnam.

David Sillers is a politics major from Potomac, Md.