Iraq to be a Vietnam: retired general

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12356131-29277,00.html

Major General Alan Stretton said the Government would eventually bow to public pressure and withdraw the troops, leaving behind a bloody mess.

Prime Minister John Howard has rejected comparisons with Vietnam, saying such analogies are misplaced.

Maj Gen Stretton, who served as chief of staff of the Australian force in Vietnam from 1969-70 but is best remembered for his role heading relief operations in Darwin following Cyclone Tracy in 1974, said there could never be democracy in Iraq.

Maj Gen Stretton said Australia should not have been involved in Iraq in the first place as there were no weapons of mass destruction and no links with al-Qaeda. snip

"The whole lot of it has turned into a bloody civil war," he said.

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[JohnyCanuck]

1. OK general, now tell us something we don't already know.

"This talk about fighting for democracy, that is absolute, to use a phrase, bullshit," he said.