This morning on CNN Late Edition Wolf Blitzer asked American Enterprise Institute spokeswoman Danielle Pletka about the comparison between Iraq and Vietnam.
Pletka said:
“Senator McCain speaking at the American Enterprise Institute on Friday said This isn’t Vietnam. In Vietnam, when we left, they didn’t follow us. These guys are gonna follow us. We remember what happened when we left Afghanistan. Let’s not forget what the consequences are of leaving Iraq prematurely.”
(It was unclear which part of her quote is actually her quoting McCain.)
Since she is implying that leaving Afghanistan led to our being attacked, one can only assume she is referring to pre-9/11.
I didn’t realize that the US was actually in Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2001, in the sense that we are in Iraq. I do know that, in Afghanistan, we gave arms and money to the very people who are now considered to be our primary enemy. I guess Pletka (or McCain) is saying that we should have stayed in Afghanistan, or escalated and made permanent our involvement.
It amazes me when I see this sort of thing go unquestioned by news readers like Blitzer.