Bush: Pullout would tilt Iraq toward Vietnam's fate

Addressing veterans, president raises specter of higher death tolls in a U.S. withdrawal

By Michael A. Fletcher

The Washington Post

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- President Bush defended his ongoing military commitment in Iraq by linking the conflict there to the Vietnam War, arguing Wednesday that withdrawing U.S. troops would lead to widespread death and suffering as it did in Southeast Asia three decades ago.

"One unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like boat people, re-education camps and killing fields," Bush told the audience at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention.

The president's decision to draw an explicit link between Iraq and Vietnam comes as he seeks to marshal support for his war policy among Republicans and blunt calls from Democratic members of Congress for a drawdown of U.S. forces in the coming months.
His comments played well among the veterans in Kansas City, Mo. -- the speech was interrupted with repeated cheers and applause -- but the references to Vietnam, which remains a divisive, emotional issue for many Americans, prompted harsh criticism from Democrats.

"The president is drawing the wrong lesson from history," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
Bush also offered fresh support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, calling him a "good man with a difficult job." Speaking Tuesday to reporters at a North American summit in Quebec, Bush expressed his disappointment at the lack of political progress in Iraq and said that widespread frustration could lead Iraqis to replace al-Maliki.

Al-Maliki fired back in comments early Wednesday, saying the U.S. should not impose conditions on his government.

"No one has the right to place timetables on the Iraq government," he told reporters at the end of a three-day trip to Damascus, according to The Associated Press. "Those who make such statements are bothered by our visit to Syria. . . . We care for our people and our constitution and can find friends elsewhere."

In his speech to the veterans, Bush said that to abandon Iraq now would be "devastating" and argued that the troop surge is contributing to military progress there. He said U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed or captured more than 1,500 al-Qaida operatives every month since January.

Citing not just the Vietnam War, but the aftermath of past conflicts in Asia, Bush said U.S. action helped foster democracies in Japan and South Korea. By contrast, he said, the pullout from Vietnam led to even more deaths, with hundreds of thousands dying at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, in Vietnamese re-education camps or at sea as they attempted to flee Communist rule in rickety boats.

"Like our enemies in the past, the terrorists who wage war in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places seek to spread a political vision of their own, a harsh plan for life that crushes all freedom, tolerance and dissent."