George,

Recently, PBS had a rerun of the documentary on Robert Kennedy. I was particularly struck by what he said in one of his speeches opposing the Viet Nam War.

Paraphrasing, he said, we have been warned that pulling out of this disastrous war will lead to the fall of all South East Asia into the hands of communism, eventually they will reach our West Coast and cross the Rocky Mountains. History will prove they were wrong.

It was known as the Domino Theory.

Today, Viet Nam is the fastest growing economy in the region, and last week, our Current Occupant went to Hanoi to bolster trade with that "lost" nation!

Aside from his usual numbskull remarks about ending wars "too soon", the irony was not lost on the similarity to the current quagmire in Iraq. The biggest difference, as Thomas Friedman writes in the New York Times, is the Vietnamese had a cogent idea about where they wanted to go, free of colonialism. In Iraq, nobody has any idea where they want to go and it seems every group in that country is attacking ANYBODY!... Friedman points out, "Iraq can't even get a civil war right."

The only common denominator I can see in Iraq is the overwhelming majority want the U.S. and its "coalition of the willing" occupiers out!

The majority also support the insurgents' murderous attacks on our troops, or any other "green zone" occupants.

Knowing that Bush will never admit his obscene blunder, and continue to delude himself that democracy is "right around the corner if we have the will", I hope new leadership in our Congress will just say no and get us out of Iraq, post haste.

Saving lives is far more important than saving reputations.

Harry Tenney (Electronic mail, November 30, 2006)