The Left Admits Iraq Is No Vietnam

Juan Cole of Informed Comment fame is now admitting that Iraq is no Vietnam by any stretch of the imagination. Cole, a Middle East historian at the University of Michigan, is the preeminent leftist blogger on the situation in Iraq and has been quite skeptical of the war effort.

Cole writes: "In Communism, the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong had a universal ideology with a nationalist subtext that could hope to unite all the Vietnamese. . . In contrast, the Sunni Arab guerrillas in Iraq lack a unifying ideology. They are either Baathists (discredited in most of the country) or Salafis (a hard line Sunni ideology with no appeal to Shiites in the south or to most Kurds in the north), or Arab nationalists." Cole also points out that the insurgents have no major patron states, but still must insist that "there are other forms of quagmire. Nevertheless, it is important to hear these concessions coming from intelligent but strident leftists who can see that Iraq will not turn into a Vietnam, though they believe it may become a protracted struggle like in Northern Ireland or Sri Lanka or even perhaps Lebanon. Cole says that "long term, low-intensity ethnically-based conflicts just grind on for a decade or more, and then, if we are lucky, gradually fade at least somewhat away."

It's healthy to see some rational comments emanating from the Left. Good to see them coming around.