Yes, it IS Vietnam all over again - they are trumpeting enemy casualties

[DancingBear]

For those of us old enough to remember (like me), one of the "strategies" of the Nixon regime was to puff up the amount of enemy casualties in Vietnam, thus making it seem as if we were (literally) wiping the VC of the face of the earth.

For a time, the nightly news (and those who watched it) bought into it: "Today, 245 Viet Cong were killed in a skirmish. U.S. casualties were one dead, two wounded."

After a while, however, the truth became known, and these dead/wounded counts became laughable.

Today, Rumsfeld is heaping praise with respect to the enormous amount of enemy combatants that have been killed.

Nixon lied then - Rumsfeld lies now.

History repeats.

Welcome to Vietnam 2005.

[jokerman93]

1. Interesting

So when did Rumsfeld's people start doing body counts? I recall at the beginning of their little adventure, a big deal was made about NOT counting.

[DancingBear]

2. Yep, funny what a little bad polling data will do

Oops, my bad - this is not a poll-driven presidency.

I'm giving it about a month before someone drags out The SIlent Majority defense.

[flamin lib]

3. My elder brother served from '65 to '66 and they had a unique

count system. A rat was one VC, an ape was 3, a water buffalo counted as 5 and a human, any human, was 10 VC.

[MuseRider]

4. Ooooo really?

I missed that, missed a lot lately so I am trying to catch up. You know, this whole damned situation is disgusting but the thought of Rah Rahing about dead people that we killed just really really creeps me out. I remember that and remember hearing people say how good it was that we were killing so many. It certainly cemented me politically. I never want to be one of them.

You are correct, bad polls....oooh look we are killing a LOT of "enemies". Werkin hard for you. :puke:

:hi: DB

[catnhatnh]

5. Kill Ratio...

...Hello darkness my old friend....

[TwilightZone]

6. They also report "taking" the same towns/cities multiple times, even

if the latest attempt met no resistance.

That reminds me of how the military would report taking the same hill in Korea or the same village in Vietnam over and over again.

[DancingBear]

7. You're right

I hadn't even thought of that - or maybe I just didn't want to remember.