it seems like vietnam comparisons are all the rage among people criticizing obama's escalation in afghanistan. but why is it always vietnam?
now that we have iraq as part of our national history, we don't need to rely on "vietnam" every time we want an example of a pointless costly war. it seems to me that iraq is a much better one to use. pretty much everyone who is politically aware now has some first-hand memories of iraq, most don't have any first hand memories of the vietnam war.
i'm forty years old and i don't. i learned about that war through books, movies and history class. the iraq war i understand as a contemporary. these days it's just a better paradigm for a fucked up war.
