The Endless War

There's no escape: Along with hippies, drugs, poverty programs and classic rock, it seems that my generation--and the country--is destined to keep debating Vietnam till the end of our days.

President Bush kicked it off again on Wednesday, but he's only the latest to join the party. We debated Vietnam during the '76 campaign, after which Carter granted amnesty to draft dodgers. Reagan in '80 ran against the sort of military weakness exemplified by Vietnam as well as the Iranian hostage crisis. In '88 it was Dan Quayle's National Guard service. In '92 it was Bill Clinton's how-to-avoid-the-draft-while-remaining-politically-viable letter. In '00 the issue was how W. got into the Guard and whether he went AWOL. And in '04 we relived the whole thing again with Kerry and the Swift Boaters.

The White House and its allies have always dismissed invocations of Vietnam as the product of Defeatocrats and Blame-America-Firsters. Iraq was different, they said, was not a quagmire, and would not end in the same humiliating fashion. But he is taking on a national consensus that Vietnam was a mistake. Half a million American troops--more than triple the number in Iraq--couldn't win that conflict, and then, as now, public opinion had turned sharply against what was seen as a civil war. Vietnam sank LBJ and dogged Nixon, and we're arguing about it still.

Just after 3:30 yesterday, the Vietnam analogy was overtaken by what seemed to me a dramatic statement by John Warner. For the 80-year-old senator who ran the Navy during Vietnam, a reliable Republican and military hawk, to call on his president to start withdrawing troops home by Christmas may be the most significant political development on the home front since ex-Marine Jack Murtha started leading the Democrats down the antiwar road in 2005.

Warner's credentials are unassailable; no one can accuse him of cutting and running. He's just back from Iraq. He's hardly rushed to judgment. More important, he provides cover for wavering Republicans--especially those up for reelection next year--to break with the president without appearing disloyal.

John Warner hasn't committed to seeking another term in Virginia, and if he steps down, this may be the most important thing he's ever done in his life--other than marrying Elizabeth Taylor.

"Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), the influential former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Thursday urged President Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq to send a message that the United States is running out of patience with the government in Baghdad," reports the L.A. Times.

"Warner, who has been critical of the troop buildup ordered by Bush in January, said he was not ready to back a Democratic-led effort in Congress to order withdrawals. However, his blunt assessment of the Iraqi government's performance could lead to an erosion of GOP support for the president's war strategy at a crucial time . . .

"Returning from a visit to Iraq, Warner urged Bush to announce next month "the first step in a withdrawal," bringing perhaps 5,000 of the nearly 162,000 troops home by Christmas. Warner, a veteran and former Navy secretary, said it was important to show the Iraqi government 'that we mean business' and that the U.S. military commitment is not open-ended. 'We simply cannot as a nation stand and put our troops at continuous risk of loss of life and limb without beginning to take some decisive action which will get everybody's attention,' Warner said at a Capitol Hill news conference."

Says Politico: "Vulnerable Republicans have been desperately searching for middle ground on Iraq, and Sen. John Warner, the senior senator from Virginia, may have just given them political cover."

At National Review, Pete Hegseth seconds Bush's Vietnam analogy:

"Historical comparisons, like the Vietnam imagery invoked by the president, are a necessary part of the public case for completing the mission in Iraq. Americans -- and especially Vietnam veterans -- remember the aftermath of defeat in Vietnam: a crippled American image, shunned American GIs, and genocide.