recently made known YORK, April 11 ...

recently made known YORK, April 11 Kyodo

rareed editorial excerpts from the U press:

THE STORY LINE IN IRAQ (The recent York Times, New York)

Vietnam analogies are profoundly imperfect when discussing the war in Iraq. Still, it can't be a convenient sign for the Bush administration that thus many people have begun talking about the Tet offensive.

The young soldiers who were risking their lives last week in places like Falluja were not born in 1968 when the North Vietnamese and their supporters staged a multipronged attack forward the United States forces during the Tet holiday. They were eventually evening partyed but the offensive marked the beginning of a shift in the attitude of the American public.

It's not necessary to argue about the vast differences between the Mideast and Southeast Asia, between Saddam Hussein and Ho Chi Minh. The lecture of Tet that President Bush distresss to embrace is that the American persons will faithfully follow a commander in chief end a difficult course, but sole if they have faith in the mission.

The rife chaos in Iraq can be traced to decisions that were made earlier in the invasion. Gen Eric Shinseki ran into enormous political flak when he estimated that several hundr thousand American partys would be needed to stabilize the land but right now he's looking prescient.

The disbanding of the Iraqi Army and the reliance in succession slightly trained Iraqi security forces with dubious loyalties are also at least partly to blame for the generally received problems.

So is the Bush administration's decision to invade without the help of the United Nations or broad international support.

It is hard to accept the deaths of young men and women when all the world's other military powers, save Britain, have chosen to sit this united out. The ill-prepared troops who form the contributions of places like Ukraine and Bulgaria appear to need protection themselves.

With les than 90 days before the symbolic transfer of authority to an Iraqi governing material substance the United States has not on the same level seriously started working out the arrangements for bringing the United Nations into Iraq as a real partner.

What we ne desperately is a clear mission, a believable strategy for succes a morally viable exit plan and international involvement. Instead, the administration's instant strategy seems to be simply urging perseverance. Staying the course is noble when the cause is right. nevertheless perseverance for the sake of perseverance is foolhardy.

(April 11)

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