American Humiliation After Iraq
The Current Discussion: The Obama administration has finally set a date for withdrawing U.S. troops for Iraq. If ethnic strife returns there, raising again the specter of civil war, should the U.S. send troops back in?
Nations make mistakes, some bigger than others. They can either compound those mistakes, or put a stop to them and live with their consequences. Invading Iraq in 2003 was obviously a mistake, and President Obama now has to decide whether to compound it by staying in Iraq, or cut the losses, withdraw, and let Americans live with the legacy of yet another war defeat.
A comparison with Vietnam is inevitable.
The United States went to war in Vietnam in the 1960s -- some Americans still argue today that it was with the best of intentions -- only to realize more than a decade later that it was a mistake, and pulled out in 1974, come what may.
It took years for Americans to realize that it was a war they could not win. Nixon and Kissinger agonized over whether to cut the country's losses and leave Vietnam, or stay and maintain America's integrity, pride and international standing.

