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Article: A quagmire? Vietnam, Iraq & other analogies.
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- January 16, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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As Americans contend with an increasingly dangerous and uncertain situation in Iraq, the language we use to debate our policy becomes more and more important. Vietnam-era phrases like "credibility gap," "quagmire," and "exit strategy" are now frequently heard. These terms serve as more than 1960s catch-words for analogizing the recent difficulties facing U.S. troops in Iraq with what happened in Vietnam. They reveal a governmental mindset that once mired this country in Vietnam and is at work in our current occupation of Iraq.
Not everyone has signed on to this lexicon. In commenting on the pundits' new passion for juxtaposing Vietnam with Iraq, one Vietnam ...