Bilmon posts these from Robert McNamara’s memoirs:
But for the most part, McNamara’s eleven points are a pretty good capsule summary of the lessons that should have been learned from Vietnam, but which weren’t — in large part because the people now running the foreign policy of the U.S. government have never even been able to face up to the fact that we lost the Vietnam War, much less understand why we lost it.
Go read them.
I am happy to hear that Saddam is no longer running loose.
Outside the Beltway has links to blogosphere reaction and, my favorite, pictures of Saddam.
Perhaps we can now move on to capturing Osama bin Laden.
While I have been mostly away from the b’sphere for the last two days there has apparently been quite a discussion going on regarding the idea of just getting out of Iraq.
Avedon Carol tells us:
It’s been clear for a long time that when the Bushies said they were going to run America like a business, we really should have said, “Which one?” I mean, the Mafia is, after all, “a business”, and so is every con game going. A business that is both corrupt and inefficient isn’t really the sort of thing people like to put their pension plans into. But now, apparently, they are running Iraq in much the same way…
The rest of the post is well worth the read and there are links to other well known folks talking about this in depth.
I wonder how soon we can expect this form of freedom in the US?
BAGHDAD, Nov. 11 � American soldiers handcuffed and firmly wrapped masking tape around an Iraqi man’s mouth as they arrested him on Tuesday for speaking out against occupation troops.
Asked why the man had been arrested and put into the back of a Humvee vehicle on Tahrir Square, the commanding officer told Reuters at the scene: ”This man has been detained for making anti-coalition statements.”
He refused to say what the man said.
Via Electrolite.
Ted Rall’s veteran’s day column Why we Fight (subtitled Iraq From the Other Side) may well reflect the view of some Iraqi citizens.
Rall’s is not on my reading list and this is the first Rall’s piece I have read so I have no good sense of context and whether this is meant to be an attempt at interpretation which, I think, would be a reasonable thing for someone to do or if this is a support piece that is really advocating for the Iraqi resistance.
Little Green Footballs and the comment thread here take the latter position and argue that Rall’s is supporting the Iraqi resistance and advocating the killing of US citizens. If, indeed, this is what Ralls is doing then shame on him.
And I would hope that these folks who condemn Ralls will also condemn michael savage who, on his national broadcast today (11/12), called for the death of US citizens (labeled by savage as leftists and liberal fascists).
Via Wizbang.