It is of course preposterous to assume that we have here a critical strategic turning point in the fortunes of the Iraqi enterprise. But one reflects on the Vietnam parallel. Toward the end of 1973 and into 1974, the South Vietnamese army was holding well against the communists. There were grounds for genuine strategic optimism, but supplies were needed, and could only be had from Washington.
But there, only a single concern governed political attention, and that was -- Watergate. President Nixon was for all intents and purposes immobilized, and Congress, dragged down by an executive sinking under the weight of vanity and stupidity, gave up on any effort to act on the news of the revitalization of the Saigon government. The United States did nothing -- and very soon suffered the consequence: a disastrous defeat.
The analogy today is to Congress' apparent indifference to the continuing demands of the Iraqi enterprise. In Vietnam, by 1973, there was near unanimity in regretting our involvement. As much might be said about Iraq today.
The effort to stabilize Iraq is making strides, if Gen. Petraeus is to be trusted. But one wonders how many politicians, looking at the next elections, can shake themselves free from Weltschmerz long enough to greet, with gratitude, the possibility that time, finally, is working in behalf of the great endeavor to maintain an element of freedom in that critical area of the Middle East.