What Does That Really Mean?

by James Glaser
September 26, 2005

August 11th was the first time George Bush used that catchy phrase, but it wasn't the last, and he continues to pull this line out every time some one talks about pulling our troops out of harms way. George goes on to say, "Iraqis are taking control of their country, they are building a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself."

Bush and the White House refuse to allow any comparison between today's Iraq War and America's War of thirty years ago in Vietnam, but history is repeating itself, and most Americans can now see it.

For almost a decade, American troops worked hard to train an army, so that South Vietnam could defend itself, and our troops could take a supporting role in the war. Today we hear American officers reporting that newly trained elements of the "new" Iraqi Army are taking the lead in operations and that the US troops are there in a supporting role.

That sounds wonderful, hopeful, and a step toward our troops coming home. I wish it was true, I wish I could believe these reports, but deja vu, I have heard this before.

For almost a decade we poured training, equipment, and supplies into the South Vietnamese Army. We did everything possible to train the men of that country, so that they could operate and fight like the United States Army and it never did work. What we were trying to do in Vietnam is the same thing we are trying to do in Iraq today. We are trying to make American soldiers, out of Iraqi civilians, and that won't work. It didn't work thirty some years ago in South East Asia and it won't work today in the Middle East.

Our American military has over two hundred years of tradition behind it. The people who sign up are volunteers, many have had fathers, brothers, maybe even mothers who have served before them. The people in Iraq are different and their traditions are different. Iraq's military has gone through a several terrible wars in the recent past. First there was the war of attrition with Iran, and then two wars with us. Many of the real leaders in Iraq's army were killed in one of these three wars. Many of the officers in this new Iraqi Army had served in Saddam's Army, where corruption was the norm.

Now we have US military trainers, trying to make Iraqi recruits into "little" American soldiers, and that isn't going to work. We did the same thing in Vietnam. We gave the Vietnamese our weapons, our uniforms, our tactics, and all that time, money, and effort was wasted, as we were trying to bridge 200 years of experience into a few years. Without American troops leading the way, the South Vietnamese Army was defeated. The same will happen in Iraq, because we are trying to make Iraqis into something they will never be.

From most reports, we learn that Iraqis join the military to get a pay check. They do not feel that they are defending their country, and in many instances, they feel they are going against their religion by signing up. The devastation caused by this war has forced many to join up, so they can feed their family.

Like Vietnam, American forces will always need to be present to give "backbone" to this new Iraqi Army. They will always need that sense of "backup," so if real trouble starts, they know that American troops are close by.

We have several years of training started with Afghan troops, and still Americans are getting killed there, another five American troops lost their lives on Sunday in Afghanistan. Their chopper crashed "while returning to a U.S. base after dropping off troops for a raid on a suspected militant target." Even after years of training Afghani troops, American soldiers are required to take the lead in operations, and the same will hold true for our troops in Iraq.

George Bush can talk about our troops coming home after the Iraqi troops take over, but history tells us that will not ever happen. Thousands and thousands of young Americans died waiting for the South Vietnamese Army to take over and when they finally did, they fell apart without the American soldier backing them up. The same thing is happening in Afghanistan today, as it will in Iraq.

More and more Americans will lose their lives and more will be maimed for life, but when all is said and done, their sacrifice will be in vain, just as all those who were killed and wounded in Vietnam, gave their all for naught.

George Bush's little saying sounds good, and it gives the families of those serving in the combat zone something to hang on to, but it is nothing new, and the story won't change. The Iraqis we back will be winning or holding their own as long as we stay there. When we leave, they will fold, and all the troops we lose between now and then will have been wasted, because another President could not face up to his own mistakes.