A Call to Action

History repeats itself. It’s one of those aphorisms that many do not give much thought. History repeats itself. It’s a shame. It’s a shame that we cannot learn from our past mistakes. This war has incredible parallels to a previous conflict that borderline on the unbelievable. Of course, that previous conflict was Vietnam.

Now, many have already compared the current conflict in Iraq with Vietnam. In fact, the comparisons were being discussed even before this war started. But, the devil, as it turns out, is in the details.

Let’s start with the beginning. After the French moved out of Vietnam in 1954, the US chose Ngo Dinh Diem to take over in South Vietnam, in an attempt to thwart the communist North. Diem proved to be a ruthless dictator with a very poor human rights record, and he rigged elections to remain in power. The parallel here is our open assistance of the Hussein regime in Iraq in the 1980’s, in an effort to thwart the Khomeini regime in Iran.

After some time, it became clear that the Diem regime was becoming more of problem than it was worth, so the United States arranged for his assassination. The coup was poorly organized, and the transition between governments proved to be disastrous. Several unstable governments followed the Diem regime. The North took advantage of the situation and began escalating military operations in the South. The war began.

The Iraq conflict followed similar lines. The Hussein regime was overthrown after he became undesirable. The transition was poorly planned, again, and the civil war began.

The circumstances for American involvement are also strikingly familiar. Shoddy intelligence in 1964, involving an attack on the USS Maddox, led to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, a carte blanch for the war in Vietnam. We all know the story of WMDs and the AUMF in 2002.

And most recently, the Bush administration has provided the latest parallel in these two conflicts. The new talking point as of late has been “the terrorists will follow us home.” This, too, was a very real concern for the Eisenhower administration. The “domino theory” argued that if Vietnam fell to communism, the all of Southeast Asia would fall, eventually spreading all the way to Hawaii if left unchecked. They argued that it was better to fight them in Southeast Asia then on American soil. The similarities are eerie.

So what’s missing here? What is the one thing that makes these two conflicts dissimilar? Protest. Protest on college campuses. Protest is what grabbed the national attention. Protest is what got us out of that war. Where are the protests now? Why are our campuses silent?

Mass protests began to happen after the Tet Offensive in Vietnam in 1969. This is marked as the turning point of the war. Last Thursday, the Iraqi Parliament, well within the Green Zone, fell victim to a suicide bombing. Three members of the Iraqi parliament died. Make this be our Tet. Make this be the turning point.

Let this be your call to action. Now is the time to stand up and be heard. This war is no longer acceptable to the American people. This war cannot be won. Our troops must be brought home immediately.

It’s our turn to frame the debate.

Join me and others as we protest every Friday. Every single Friday, until the troops come home. This administration has proven to unbelievably stubborn. Let’s show them how stubborn we can be.