October 18, 2006
So ABC News thinks they finally got a "Vietnam" out of the President. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, ABC is reporting that the President accepted the Iraq/Vietnam comparison made by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times (it's behind their moat, so be careful getting in).
Well, true, it seems he did acknowledge there could be a comparison, and in the world of soundbites and "gotcha!" journalism this sounds like a winner. Of course, should anyone perchance have a transcript of what the President actually said... (via Drudge)
STEPHANOPOULOS: It's been a brutal month in Iraq.And what's our gut telling us? It's telling us that the President was merely acknowledging that the current al Qaeda strategy is absolutely designed to create the same effect as Vietnam - and that Tet is an apt description of their aims, because it's the only "offense" they have.BUSH: That's right.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yesterday, 11 Americans killed, another American killed today. On a day like that, what kind of reports do you get from the battlefield?
BUSH: Well, I get that report, that soldiers were killed...
STEPHANOPOULOS: Every casualty.
BUSH: Yeah, absolutely, I read every casualty, and it breaks my heart, because behind every casualty is somebody with tears in their eyes. Behind every casualty are families that will be mourning the loss of life for a lifetime. I think the hardest part of the presidency is to meet with families who've lost a loved one. //
STEPHANOPOULOS: Tom Friedman wrote in the New York Times this morning that what we might be seeing now is the Iraqi equivalent of the Tet offensive...
BUSH: Yeah.
STEPHANOPOULOS: ... in Vietnam in 1968. Tony Snow this morning said he may be right.
BUSH: Mm-hmm.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you agree?
BUSH: He could be right. There's certainly a stepped up level of violence, and we're heading into an election. //
STEPHANOPOULOS: But what's your gut tell you?
BUSH: George, my gut tells me that they have all along been trying to inflict enough damage that we'd leave. And the leaders of Al Qaida have made that very clear.
The Tet offensive was not any type of military victory for the North, but a propaganda victory bestowed upon them by the press. And that is exactly what al Qaeda wants desperately to achieve. There is no military victory al Qaeda can hope for, only a defeat of American will. Their sole aim in driving up the body count is to wear us down to the point that we'll just give up. It's the only way they can win.
The President has been saying this for a while now. And al Qaeda has been saying this for a while now too - heck and they've even thanked journalists for helping to enhance the jihad. Yet the press never seems to recall this.
And so now unfortunately the crack team at ABC news believes they've got some type of admission of failure out of the President. Yet Tet was never a story about a military failure or a quagmire. It was a tale of media surrender in the wake of a hard fought victory.
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