Bush, Senate leader disagree over Iraq-Vietnam link
By Caren Bohan 1 hour, 18 minutes ago
TIPP CITY, Ohio (Reuters) -
President George W. Bush and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) debated from afar on Thursday whether the
Iraq war had turned into Vietnam as they sought the upper hand in a battle over war funding.
A day after a White House meeting that failed to resolve differences over Bush's request for $100 billion to fund wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, the president argued his case for the money during a 90-minute session before a largely friendly audience in Ohio.
Asked to compare Iraq to Vietnam, a war that still weighs on the American psyche three decades after it ended, Bush said a premature U.S. withdrawal from Iraq could lead to chaos and death the same way war broke out between Vietnam and the
Khmer Rouge of Cambodia after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
"After Vietnam, after we left, millions of people lost their life. My concern is there would be a parallel there," Bush said, adding that "This time around, the enemy wouldn't just be content to stay in the Middle East, they'd follow us here."
Democrats want to attach a troop pullout timetable to Bush's war funding request, which Bush and his Republican allies reject, saying "surrender dates" are unacceptable.
In Washington, Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said he told Bush on Wednesday that "this war is lost" and that his troop buildup plan "is not accomplishing anything" after insurgent bombs killed nearly 200 people that day in Baghdad.
Reid said his message for Bush was to recall a turning point in the Vietnam war, in the mid-1960s, when Reid said President Lyndon Johnson had decided to send thousands more troops to Vietnam despite knowing that the conflict was "not winnable."
"The (Iraq) war can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically, and the president needs to come to that realization," Reid said.
Bush conceded that Americans are concerned about whether the United States can succeed in stabilizing Iraq and said Democrats have a role to play but that he would veto their legislation when it gets to his desk, possibly as early as late next week.
His message to them, he said, was "please do it and hurry so I can veto it and we can get down to the business of getting the troops funded."
Many lawmakers believe serious talks toward a deal may not take place until after Democrats send Bush their version of a bill with timelines and he vetoes it. They would then consider the option of drafting fresh legislation, possibly considering "benchmarks" to gauge Iraq's progress instead of timelines.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Steve Holland in Washington)