Harry Reid Is "Lost"

Iraq is a war that we not only can win, but have to win. What will make that impossible is the same Kennedy/Kerry - esque creeps who demanded America lose in Viet Nam. This pair of articles found on Drudge . Iraq war is 'lost': US Democrat leader

"I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid told journalists.
Reid said he had delivered the same message to US President George W. Bush on Wednesday, when the US president met with senior lawmakers to discuss how to end a standoff over an emergency war funding bill.
"I know I was the odd guy out at the White House, but I told him at least what he needed to hear ... I believe the war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically."

I can only wish someone will think to ask him
(a) "What 'wars' in the past have been "won diplomatically, politically and economically?" and
(b) Do you think the slaughter of millions of S Vietnamese had NOTHING to do with the fact that the Democrats cut funding and supplies to their U.S. allied Government?...

But Reid drew a parallel with former US president Lyndon Johnson who decided to deploy more troops in Vietnam some 40 years ago when 24,000 US troops had already been killed.
"Johnson did not want a war loss on his watch, so he surged in Vietnam. After the surge was over, we added 34,000 to the 24,000 who died in Vietnam," Reid said.

This as moronic a statement from a John Lennon wannabee as I've ever encountered. Johnson "surged" with troops but considered the war an Allied operation of "containment" directed at the Soviet Union. The involvement of South Viet Nam was incidental until Nixon's "Vietnamization" program, that was somewhat successful in preparing the South's Army to take over the fighting. Neither Johnson nor Nixon, in decisions that only a Harvard/Stanford "whiz kid" could understand, would attack areas of neighboring countries harboring VC and NVA activity. The Soviets so cowed them that they wouldn't even allow the US Air Force to attack the lethal Soviet anti-aircraft batteries.
If the leader of the Senate had said we waited too long to regain control of Baghdad, he'd have found plenty of heads nodding in unison. But if the pitiful U.S. congress wants the U.S. military to fail in Iraq, then their allies are Al Queda and the Muslim insurgency, not the people of Iraq, or of the U.S. for that matter. The enemy and the Democratic party are both using the same talking points for pete's sake.
But there is hope still for the Democrats that the American people will never hear about the bloodbath that will follow their cut-and-run "strategy." That's is one comparison with Viet Nam that WILL hold true.
The press coverage on this minor exchange between the Senate Leader and the president is classic also. Reid makes a ridiculously inaccurate historical statement, no fact checking, no questions, and the president's party supposedly "struggles" to cope.
U.S. Republicans battle charge Iraq war is lost

Asked to compare Iraq to Vietnam, a war that still weighs on the American psyche three decades after it ended, Bush told an Ohio audience a premature U.S. withdrawal from Iraq could lead to chaos and death the same way war broke out between Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
"After Vietnam, after we left, millions of people lost their life. My concern is there would be a parallel there," Bush said, adding that "This time around, the enemy wouldn't just be content to stay in the Middle East, they'd follow us here."

...

Many lawmakers believe serious talks toward a compromise will not take place until after a veto. Then, they say, there could be fresh legislation that would have "benchmarks" to gauge Iraq's progress instead of withdrawal timetables.

...

"I can't begin to imagine how our troops in the field, who are risking their lives every day, are going to react when they get back to base and hear that the Democrat leader in the United States Senate has declared the war is lost," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican.

These are adequate responses, but Republicans are still in charge of our foreign policy. They ought to sound more like they understand that and assertively articulate their positions.