Originally Posted by
Danny42C
Lonewolf_50,
Could be wrong, but didn't Vietnam start that way ?
That would depend upon which year you hold US in Vietnam to have started. Some of us think it was about a month after the debacle and Dien Bien Phu. Others, like Karnow, consider it late 1945 as the Japanese left ...
FWIW Iraq "started" in either 1991 or 2003 (pick your frame of reference) so it's not as though this is something new ... though this latest development was predictable.
Had a few pints with a West Point grad last night. He spent much of 2005-2007 in that lovely place. He's now a professor of Political Science. We both discussed the similarities and differences of those two wars and arrived at "similar but different" as a conclusion. We also agreed that General Powell (Then Secretary of State) in about 2004, was correct in the "if you break it you own it" point.
I remain concerned that it's the first fist into the tarbaby. The Chinese must get a laugh out of all this about once per day, with their tea.