Iraq's election turnout carries eerie echo of Vietnam in 1967

[truthpusher]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/06/INGH7B39Q41.DTL

Iraq's election turnout carries eerie echo of Vietnam in 1967
Robert Collier, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, February 6, 2005

The voters came to the polls in huge crowds, ignoring insurgent attacks and casting their votes under the protection of U.S. troops. International observers praised the process, calling it a triumph of democracy and a defeat for tyranny.

Iraq 2005?

No. South Vietnam in September 1967.

As we now know, South Vietnam's experiment in democracy didn't work out well. Communist forces launched the Tet Offensive four months later, forcing the U.S.-backed government almost to its knees, and finally conquered the nation seven years afterward.

After last week's election in Iraq, many critics are finding eerie parallels with the Vietnam vote. Will Iraq turn out the same? Were the elections a sham, a foreshadowing of increased conflict, as claimed this week by Sunni clerics in Iraq who are close to the insurgents?

Complete story here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/06/INGH7B39Q41.DTL

[global1]

1. But Today We Americans Have The Privilege To .......

vacation in Viet Nam.

[Mr_Spock]

2. Did you hear Randi Rhodes do a substitution story read of the 1967

So. Vietnam vote story - substituting Iraq and the names of current officials into the news story? I think it was Randi - anyway, it was kind of eerie knowing that a similar situation existed in So. Vietnam where they had elections at our behest and this was the BEGINNING of a terrible civil war and guess who LOST that war? Let's hope it works out better this time - for the sake of the Iraqi people.

[struggle4progress]

3. kick