Nuanced ABCNews Headline: IRAQ LIKE VIETNAM... BUSH'S NEW TALKING POINT AS 14 AMERICANS DIE
Update: Now Changed... But Screencaps Are Forever

The newsroom is a sacred, magical place where unhinged partisanship never intrudes into actual reportage.

Except when it does.

The actual reference occurs on page three of the article:

After comparing the current war against extremists with the militarists of Japan and the communists in Korea and Vietnam in Wednesday's speech, he plans to discuss the war in Iraq in the context of its implications for the broader Middle East in a speech next Tuesday at the annual American Legion convention in Reno, Nev.

Isn't. That. Special.

Thanks to H.

A Bigger Screencap... is here. As you can see it's the top story as of 3:00 PM. I don't know when it went up with this screamer headline.

Thanks for that second screencap Dave.

MSM Suddenly Convinced Iraq NOT Like Vietnam, Now That Bush Has Suggested Comparison To Mass Slaughter and Displaced Boat People: Apparently Iraq is only like Vietnam in ways that benefit the Democratic party.

Who knew?

In related news... Liberals are so gosh-darn thoughtful they're incapable of thinking in anything less than doctorate theses, whereas conservatives can only chant simplistic slogans.

Simplistic slogans like

IRAQ LIKE VIETNAM: BUSH'S NEW TALKING POINT AS 14 AMERICANS DIE

as a fer instance.

Changed! Now reads "New Bush Talking Point: Iraq Like Vietnam."

No more caps, no more "AS 14 AMERICANS DIE, DIE, DIE!!!11!!"

'Sokay. I got it all screencapped.

The Actual Text Of His Remarks: Of course the MSM isn't interested in reporting them. But the Weekly Standard is. I'll swipe a bit because I'm going to link them in my next post anyhow:

Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left. There's no debate in my mind that the veterans from Vietnam deserve the high praise of the United States of America. (Applause.) Whatever your position is on that debate, 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."

There was another price to our withdrawal from Vietnam, and we can hear it in the words of the enemy we face in today's struggle -- those who came to our soil and killed thousands of citizens on September the 11th, 2001. In an interview with a Pakistani newspaper after the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden declared that "the American people had risen against their government's war in Vietnam. And they must do the same today."

His number two man, Zawahiri, has also invoked Vietnam. In a letter to al Qaeda's chief of operations in Iraq, Zawahiri pointed to "the aftermath of the collapse of the American power in Vietnam and how they ran and left their agents."

Zawahiri later returned to this theme, declaring that the Americans "know better than others that there is no hope in victory. The Vietnam specter is closing every outlet." Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility -- but the terrorists see it differently.

We must remember the words of the enemy. We must listen to what they say. Bin Laden has declared that "the war [in Iraq] is for you or us to win. If we win it, it means your disgrace and defeat forever." Iraq is one of several fronts in the war on terror -- but it's the central front -- it's the central front for the enemy that attacked us and wants to attack us again. And it's the central front for the United States and to withdraw without getting the job done would be devastating. (Applause.)

If we were to abandon the Iraqi people, the terrorists would be emboldened, and use their victory to gain new recruits. As we saw on September the 11th, a terrorist safe haven on the other side of the world can bring death and destruction to the streets of our own cities. Unlike in Vietnam, if we withdraw before the job is done, this enemy will follow us home. And that is why, for the security of the United States of America, we must defeat them overseas so we do not face them in the United States of America. (Applause.)

As Allah points out, Bush didn't say Iraq was like Vietnam -- he said it would be like Vietnam were we to surrender. Apparently the high-nuanced folks at ABC have not mastered the nuances of the subjunctive or conditional moods.

posted by Ace at 02:44 PM

| Access Comments