The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 2 of 14)

DEPENDS ON THE MEANING OF "WON" br> Re: William Tucker's Bush Needs to Pull a Nixon : /p>

My word, Mr. Tucker, I never thought of things quite that way! Nixon actually "won" Vietnam by losing it. Why, all we had to do was abandon all those people that we'd made all those promises to. I mean, so it cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese who'd stood with us, to say nothing of the millions of Cambodians who were 'in the way' of our delayed economic victory. How shortsighted of us!

And speaking of our "victory," look where we are today. China and Vietnam are still Communist. Cambodia is still a fourth or fifth world country. And Nixon is hated even more than ever. I can see where Mr. Bush would want to emulate him. If only 'W' were as forward thinking as you and Mr. Baker.

Has it not occurred to you that the players in the Middle East aren't comparable to the Chinese and Vietnamese leaders we faced 40 years ago? You say, "...it would give Iran, Syria, Egypt et al. a chance to act like mature nations, which they just might do." Or, they might just keep trying to blow us off the face of the earth. Sir, Iran will have nuclear capability, oh, any day now. Syria despises us, and fully supports and funds terrorists groups throughout the area. Saudi Arabia takes our oil money with one hand, and doles it out to radical America-hating Wahabbi imams around the world with other. The Arab world hates us, and despises the Jews. No amount of diplomacy has changed that since Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton did everything but cede Israel to the Palestinians.

p>Even the most rabid Chinese leader would have quailed from the thought of attacking the U.S. then. Islamists today can't wait to do so. Remember 9/11, sir, and the celebrations throughout the Arab world in its wake? br> -- Tim Jones br> Cordova, Tennessee /p>

The United States had things going for it during Nixon's trip to China that is lacking today: a united West (Europe and the United States were united in their opposition to Russia), and something of value that China wanted from the West (commerce), and strength. The USA showed China its might even though it's generally thought we lost Vietnam (political but not militarily).

Today the West is fractured, China and Russia complicate matters with their Security Council vetoes, and the United Nations is anything but a friend of the United States.

topics:
Trade, Bill Clinton, Religion, Islam, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq, Iran, Russia, Israel, United Nations, NATO, Communism, Energy, Oil