Utah Free Press

Hagel’s New Vietnam

Originally published January 23rd, 2007 by Richard Okelberry

It’s ironic that Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, who was twice wounded in Vietnam, has become the very type of political entity that caused our defeat in that terrible war. As a young man serving in the military, I am sure that he, more than once, complained to his comrades about the politicians continually hamstringing the military and not giving them the resources to simply wipe out the enemy. Perhaps instead Hagel believes that America was not capable of defeating North Vietnam.

Nonetheless, it is obvious that Hagel doesn’t believe us capable of winning the war in Iraq. Liberal pundits have argued since the outset of this war that it would become another Vietnam “Quagmire.” For once I agree with the liberals, though most likely not for the same reasons. Yes things appear on the nightly news to be bogged down in Iraq. While our servicemen in the field over there often tell a completely different story, appearances are everything and liberals know that far better than conservatives do.

I instead find the similarity to Vietnam in the way that our politicians have dealt with the war. Instead of rallying toward victory once committed they have regularly sought to gain political advantage by destroying our ability to wage war through their constant negative rhetoric. Hagel and his anti war allies on the left knew from their experiences in Vietnam that the best way to defeat the U.S. and thus promote their own political career was to restrict the way that this war was fought. In reality, any general will tell you that the only way to win a war is to defeat and destroy your enemy. Well, thanks to Hagel, the U.S. is on its way to its third military loss, Vietnam, Somalia and now Iraq.

I imagine that Senator Hagel has also made the determination that our eventual retreat (I say retreat because that is what a defeated army does) will be much more like Vietnam than most in the wishy-washy public realize at the moment. By calling for troops to be removed before stability is attained we are opening the doors for the largest bloodbath the world hasl ever see. I want to be the first to declare that the millions, yes I said millions, of lives that will be lost at the hands of insurgents and rival factions, will all rest squarely on the shoulders of our dear Senator from Nebraska. When this happens I personally will do every thing I can to ensure that history records Senator Hagel as the man that assisted the defeat of the greatest military force the world has ever seen and is forever marked as someone who is at least partially responsible for mass genocide.

I wonder how many of those poor souls that helped the U.S. immediately following the war will be given political asylum after the war. I also wonder what will be going through the mind of Mr. Hagel when he watches US helicopters on the nightly news lifting desperate civilians from roof tops as US troops make their final retreat from Iraq. I can see it now: Hagel will have his long awaited Vietnam flashback.