President Bush has forcefully reiterated his intention to stay in Iraq till the country stabilizes. At a speech addressed to Vietnam veterans he forcefully made his point.

He said that Iraq was no different from Japan, South Korea or Vietnam. The US finished their job in Japan, referring to its defeat in the Second World War. Look, said Bush, Japan today is an ally, a democracy and a rich nation. Just as South Korea is a stable country today, because US did not let it to be gobbled up by the communist North. The US abandoned Vietnam and that led to massacres of US collaborators and many others, called ‘boat people’, fled from the country.

Bush’s argument about Vietnam does not make sense. It was different from Iraq. It did not have squabbling communities, which are present in the latter country. Vietnam historian Stanley Karnow caustically commented whether Bush is suggesting that US should not have withdrawn from Vietnam.

Meanwhile Freedom’s Watch, a conservative group, plans to launch a $15 million ad campaign to tell the US people that US strategy in Iraq is working and the situation is improving there. Hence it should not cut and run from there. A coalition called Americans Against Escalation in Iraq will spend $12 million to spread the opposite message.

The rhetoric from Bush and the campaigns by groups for and against US involvement in Iraq are attempts to influence members of Congress ahead of a report to be delivered next month by Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on the war’s progress.

For Bush and other nationalist conservatives in the USA a pullout from Iraq will mean loss of US prestige and power, which is totally unacceptable to them. Also the oil in Iraq will continue to play a major part on decision making. The huge oil reserves available at shallow depths in the country makes it cheaper compared to oil from other sources. China is moving rapidly mopping up the precious resource from Africa and from South American countries like Venezuela. Hence US will be loath to let go control of Iraq and will persist till the country stabilizes with a pro-west regime.
BBC USATODAY
Image credit