Griper Blade: Leave it to the Experts

In his weekend radio address, President Bush once again revisited Vietnam and urged us to learn the lessons of history. The problem with this new kick of his is that pretty much no one thinks the Vietnam war was a good idea anymore and that the lessons we're supposed to be learning from history are undercut by... Um... history.

He told us to learn "lessons we can draw from the advance of freedom in Asia in the 20th century." As an example, he said, "America's enduring presence and perseverance on that continent aided the rise of democracy, helped transform American enemies into American allies, and made our country safer."

That's not so true. We lost in Korea, we lost in Vietnam, and the largest country in Asia -- China -- is nowhere near democratic or free. Our record for war in Asia is similar to everyone else's -- it sucks. And, despite losing all these absolutely necessary wars, the 'domino theory' was proven wrong -- Asia didn't turn red. You'd think that losing 'necessary' wars would have some sort of historical consequence, but that doesn't seem to be the case...

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