Exit Strategy Redux

I don't agree with everything in this piece at Tom Paine.com, but it's definitely food for thought.

Comparisons between the wars in Vietnam and Iraq are coming fast and furious now, so let's consider one more. There is an apt parallel between the way we got out of Vietnam and the way that we will get out of Iraq - sooner or later.

Go read.

Here's a ground level exit strategy from Back to Iraq:

When I was in Ramadi, I found the morale to be lower than expected. It wasn't rock-bottom among the Marines of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, but it wasn't great. Most of the ones I talked to weren't confident they were doing anything worthwhile, and were instead focused on getting home alive. If a few Iraqis had to die to make that happen, well, war is hell.

Those Marines probably have no idea of the parallel in their thinking to that of their forebears in my generation. I do, and it causes an icy feeling in my spine because I agree with them 100% and it's not nice.