"There may well be violence as we disengage militarily from Iraq and Iraq disengages politically from us, but there will be much more violence if we continue our present dangerous and destabilizing course," said Kennedy. "It will not be easy to extricate ourselves from Iraq, but we must begin."
Administration officials have so far declined to discuss a timeline for troop withdrawal, saying the goal is to ensure the Iraqis are capable of maintaining their own security before military forces are scaled back.
Kennedy, who has called Iraq "George Bush's Vietnam," drew parallels between that failed conflict and the current deadly battle against guerrilla insurgents.
Would he feel better if we declared the supply routes for the insurgents to be off limits to US attack, designated a part of the country as a Baathist state, toss over the new government in Baghdad in a clumsy military coup, and leave all the problems in the region for the next two presidents? And then, when our country is divided and our support for the freedom of the Iraqi people is called into question, will the Senator incite the Left and undermine the support for our troops? As long as we're learning lessons from Vietnam, let's remember how much the people of Vietnam owe the Kennedy family, especially his two brothers.
