New year...same old story

Vietnam. Richard M. Nixon's increasing isolation in the early 1970's as he found himself spiraling further downward, dragged by his lust for power and control (over the uncontrollable), is now playing out all over again in the visage of George W. Bush and his own personal war.

Whereas Nixon could at least lay a portion of the blame for the escalation of the Vietnam War squarely at the feet of his predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, our current 'Great Leader' has to look no further than above his bathroom sink for the man solely responsible for this complete and utter disaster of a civil war we now find ourselves embroiled in.

Time and again, by both Republicans and Democrats, we've pleaded with Bush to not only change course, but to wake up and to open his eyes to what is happening on the ground in Iraq. This notion of "exporting democracy" to a region older than the very fucking concept of democracy simply DOES NOT WORK. There are no Blockbusters and bikini car washes waiting in the wings to line the streets of Baghdad. And if one truly wants to show another the error of their ways, to appeal to them with a new way of doing things...history has shown that it's generally best not to attempt to do so with the barrel of a gun.

Whereas Nixon promised in 1968 to end the war in Vietnam "With honor" so he could win an election, George Bush now promises yet again that "We can and will prevail" in Iraq. Both promises made and broken on the graves of not only thousands of brave American soldiers, but of countless civilians.

As we now prepare to ask an additional 21,000+ Americans to lay their lives on the line for Bush's lie, for his mistake, it may be a good time to look back at where we've already been. Three full years before Saigon finally fell, our total troop commitment in Vietnam stood at just over 150,000. We're about to go screaming past that number in another war just as unwinnable, with another man at the wheel careening out of control as not only the Congress, but the citizens of this country plead for him to stop.

Not all that long ago, we promised ourselves that Never Again would we fail to stand up for those who serve. How can we now allow even more of our children to be placed in harm's way when we already know how this story ends?

we better stop, hey, what's that sound...everybody look what's going down.