9 Analogies and 1 Lesson

... Brian Williams didn't mention them, but Protein Wisdom has the scoop !

and Victor Davis Hanson has the lesson that should be learned from comparing Iraq to Vietnam:

The perception of American weakness prompted communist adventurism from Afghanistan to Central America. Few in the Middle East thought there were any consequences to taking American hostages, or killing American soldiers and diplomats. The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Saddam Hussein alike little feared "the pitiful, helpless giant" (Richard Nixon's phrase).

There are lessons here. When the United States has stayed on after fighting dictatorial enemies — admittedly for decades in Italy, Germany, Japan, Korea and the Balkans — progress toward democracy and prosperity ensued. Disengagement from unresolved messy problems — whether from Europe after World War I, Vietnam in 1973, Beirut after the Marine barracks bombings, Afghanistan after the Soviet defeat, or Iraq in 1991 — only left murderous chaos or the "peace" of dictators.
[...]
This present war is not just about the Sunni Triangle, but whether reformers of the Arab world will step forward to emulate a fragile democratic Iraq that survives the jihadist counterassault. For the last three decades, Middle East autocratic regimes either attacked their neighbors or reached understandings with Islamic terrorists to shift blame for their own failures onto an apparently unconcerned United States.

That deeper pathology was at the root of the September 11, 2001, attacks on America. If not stopped now, it will result in many more attacks to come here at home.

The 9 analogies demonstrate the quicksand of moral equivalancy into which the Left has eagerly jumped headfirst. And, VDH's lesson is apparently the one thing these same people neglected to learn from Vietnam (you should read the entire piece).

The Left has never admitted that millions suffered and died so that they could "take out" Richard Nixon and make America look bad in Vietnam. But then again, they have never taken responsibility for the millions who died in the gulags of the Soviet Union and the purges of Stalin; and the true imperialism of their favorite ideology.

Likewise, they are unlikely to take any responsibility for the implementation of their policies of appeasement and defeat now.

Their histrionic caterwauling should be completely ignored for the worthless drivel it is, until and unless they can come up with some relevant suggestions for defeating the islamofascists, who--whether we like it or not--have declared war on us and will not be signing a peace treaty in the near future.