Article: The Iraq-Vietnam parallels Election reflects similarities in U.S. policy

Todd S. Purdum
International Herald Tribune
01-29-2005
Not quite 38 years ago, enmeshed in a drawn-out war whose ultimate outcome was deeply in doubt, Lyndon Johnson met on Guam with the fractious generals who were contending for leadership of South Vietnam and told them: ''My birthday is in late August. The greatest birthday present you could give me is a national election.'' George W. Bush's birthday is in July, but his broad goals for the Iraqi elections on Sunday are much the same as Johnson's in 1967: to confer political legitimacy and credibility on a government that Iraqis themselves will be willing and able to fight to defend and that American and world public opinion will agree to ...

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