History Major

I don't think it means what Bush thinks it means:

In a departure from his standard Iraq rhetoric, Mr. Bush will directly compare the Iraq conflict to Vietnam -- another long-running conflict where U.S. involvement became controversial and calls for withdrawal ultimately became politically irresistible. But he will make the case that the Vietnam conflict was part of a long and ultimately successful battle in Asia against militarism and communism.

I am oversimplifying, but as a result of Vietnam, we learned that the Domino theory was bunk, since we effectively lost our war in Vietnam and communism did not continue to spread, we destabilized Laos and Cambodia as well as gave China a reason to arm, both of which promoted militarism, and bled our country. Our involvement in Vietnam was irresponsible, immoral and ultimately destructive to all parties involved. If Bush had learned a single thing about Vietnam, as a history major he would not be able to say any of those things.


This book is a good place to start.