:: The Scope ::
politics, activism, culture, and soccer / "It may have been that same evening that they happened across The Scope, a bar out on the way to L.A..."(Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49):: 7.17.2003 ::
Deja vu?
Anyone that's been reading Tom Englehardt's daily dispatches recently has been aware of the mounting examples used to describe the Iraq war that sound similar to those used in Vietnam.
Today's NY Times brings us another, from the mouth of Gen. John Abizaid and through the pen of Thom Shanker in his article:
The commander, Gen. John P. Abizaid, pledged that the United States and its allies would not be driven from Iraq by the guerrilla attacks, which today killed one American soldier and wounded at least six others around Baghdad. But he cautioned that pacifying Iraq might require fresh American troops to spend yearlong tours there, double the normal duration of Army forces on peacekeeping duty.
The guerrilla war parallel should be obvious to anyone by now, but it was interesting to see a military official pledge that the forces would "not be driven" from the country.
The striking parallel, for me, was the proposed yearlong tour. All we need now is returning soldiers to talk about being "in country." That would actually require soldiers to return home, though.
Expect a large group of soldiers to come back to the US to be reunited with their families sometime around mid- to late-October 2004, by the way.
:: Incadenza 9:52 AM [link] ::
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