US READY FOR WAR AGAINST IRAN

Bush to invoke Vietnam in arguing against Iraq pulloutStory

HighlightsPresident Bush Bush to address the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Wednesday
Bush to say that withdrawing from Vietnam emboldened today's terrorists
Speech will be latest White House attempt to try to reframe the debate over Iraq

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (CNN) -- President Bush is attempting to draw parallels between the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the potential costs of pulling out of Iraq in a speech today.
President Bush sought to draw parallels between the cost of pulling out of Iraq and "the tragedy of Vietnam." "Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left," Bush will tell members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, according to excerpts released on Tuesday.
"Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps' and 'killing fields,' " the president is expected to say.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said after seeing excerpts of the speech, "President Bush's attempt to compare the war in Iraq to past military conflicts in East Asia ignores the fundamental difference between the two. Our nation was misled by the Bush Administration in an effort to gain support for the invasion of Iraq under false pretenses, leading to one of the worst foreign policy blunders in our history."
On Tuesday, the president expressed frustration with the pace of progress toward political reconciliation Iraq, saying that if the Iraqi government doesn't "respond to the demands of the people, they will replace the government." Watch Bush's comments on the Iraqi government »
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Wednesday the differences between the administration and al-Maliki have been overblown in media reports.
Al-Maliki on Wednesday shot back at criticism of his government, including pointed remarks from a U.S. senator who called his administration "non-functioning" and urged Iraq's parliament to turn it out of office. Speaking at a press conference in the Syrian capital of Damascus, al-Maliki characterized such comments as "irresponsible" and said they "overstep the bounds of diplomatic and political courtesy."
Government spokesman Ali Dabbagh told CNN that al-Maliki was specifically referring to comments made Monday by Sen. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, who called on Iraq's parliament to turn al-Maliki's "non-functioning" government out of office when it returns in two weeks.
Levin said al-Maliki's government was "too beholden to religious and sectarian leaders" to reach a political settlement that would end the country's sectarian and insurgent violence.
In his speech, Bush will try to make the argument that withdrawing from Vietnam emboldened today's terrorists by compromising U.S. credibility, citing a quote from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that the American people would rise against the Iraq war the same way they rose against the war in Vietnam, according to the excerpts.
"Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility, but the terrorists see things differently," Bush will say.
The White House is billing the speech, along with another address next week to the American Legion, as an effort to "provide broader context" for the debate over the upcoming Iraq progress report by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad.
President Bush has frequently asked lawmakers -- and the American people -- to withhold judgment on his troop "surge" in Iraq until the report comes out in September.
It is being closely watched on Capitol Hill, particularly by Republicans nervous about the political fallout from an increasingly unpopular war.
Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he would wait for the report before deciding when a drawdown of the 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq might begin.
Bush's speeches Wednesday and next week are the latest in a series of attempts by the White House to try to reframe the debate over Iraq, as public support for the war continues to sag.
In addition to his analogy to Vietnam, Bush in Wednesday's speech will invoke other historical comparisons from Asia, including the U.S. defeat and occupation of Japan after World War II and the Korean War in the 1950s, according to the excerpts.
"In the aftermath of Japan's surrender, many thought it naive to help the Japanese transform themselves into a democracy. Then, as now, the critics argued that some people were simply not fit for freedom," Bush will say. "Today, in defiance of the critics, Japan ... stands as one of the world's great free societies."
Speaking about the Korean War, Bush will note that at the time "critics argued that the war was futile, that we never should have sent our troops in, or that America's intervention was divisive here at home."
"While it is true that the Korean War had its share of challenges, America never broke its word," Bush will say. "Without America's intervention during the war, and our willingness to stick with the South Koreans after the war, millions of South Koreans would now be living under a brutal and repressive regime."