Cliff May is a fellow at the Defense of Democracy Think-tank. Rich Sheppard had this little exchange with him on June 14, 2006.

Good Day, Mr. May

Syria = Laos, Iran = Cambodia, and Saudi Arabia = China/Soviet Union

Wednesday, June 14, 2006, 1:54 PM

Good day, Mr. May,

Concerning some recent posts about the Iraq/Vietnam analogy. Historical analogies can be useful sometimes, not always, and often the left uses the “another Vietnam” analogy as a way of discouraging military actions it opposes. And that is pretty much all of them. So you had El Salvador as “another Vietnam,” etc. This is a superficial and unworthy use of history, but it suits their purposes because mentioning “Vietnam” when discussing policy gives plenty of under-informed Americans the heeby-jeebies. However, there is one troubling similarity between Vietnam and Iraq beyond what you write at NRO’s Corner.

That analogy is: Syria = Laos, Iran = Cambodia, and Saudi Arabia = China/Soviet Union. Looked at this way, with adjoining countries providing sanctuary for America’s and Iraq’s enemies, the Vietnam analogy takes on a more sinister and compelling cast. There were plenty of reasons why America had to leave Vietnam, but from a military point-of-view, the clear reason was that the U.S. could not shut off the endless supply of fighters and weapons leaking in from the sanctuaries next door. Something that GW Bush should consider when he mentions Syria and Iran in any speeches, along the lines of “Stop sending terrorists into Iraq, you peahead tinhorn Bashar Assad, or find yourself on the wrong end of a Hellfire.” And then follow that up with the Hellfire.

-- Rich Sheppard

From Mr. May

Wednesday, June 14, 2006 2:11 PM

Very good point.

One with which I happen to agree.

Allbest,

Cliff