Today's Manufactured Outrage: Dean and Defeat

Major news outlets and right-wing blogs have jumped on Howard Dean's response to a question about getting Iraq better prepared to defend itself.  However, examining Dean's full response shows that these comments were likely taken out of context, just like Bush's comments regarding the war on terror last September. 

Most of the headlines on Dean's comments to a San Antonio radio show focused on the following quote:  "The idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong."  Predictably, these comments have started a firestorm of criticism starting with various right wing bloggers, and even meriting a mention from President Bush.  However, none have commented on the question that led to this response and the context of Dean's statement.
Below is Dean's full response to a question from a WOAI anchor:

WOAI:  Governor Dean, the key to eventually getting the US forces out of Iraq is going to have the Iraqis doing a better job of defending themselves and taking a greater role.  Are we on the right track to achieve that role?

Dean:  Well, I think our military is working very hard to do that.  But let's not forget, this was ultimately what America had to do in Vietnam.  Ultimately they said we're gonna turn this over to the Vietnamese, and of course, the South Vietnamese couldn't manage to take care of their own country.  And I, as I said, I supported the first President Bush's war in Iraq,  I supported this president's war in Afghanistan, but I do not believe in making the same mistake twice and America appears to have made the same mistake twice.  I wish the President had paid more attention to the history of Iraq before we had gotten in there.  The idea that we're going to win this war is an idea that is, unfortunately, just plain wrong, and I've seen this before in my life, and it cost us 25,000 brave American soldiers in Vietnam, and I don't want to go down that road again.  Stay out of there and take the targets off our troops backs.  We need to maintain the presence in the area so we can deal with terrorism, but not in Iraq.

The outrage is over the statement "The idea that we're going to win this war is an idea that is...just plain wrong."  However, what was the context in which this statement was made?  It was in response to a question about  getting Iraqis to be better at self-defense and self-government in order to pull troops out of Iraq.  Dean leads off the question by discussing how in Vietnam, we were planning on turning things over to the South Vietnamese, but the South Vietnamese couldn't were unable to take care of themselves.  This situation led to a protracted war in Vietnam, and our eventual defeat.  Note that the whole point of Dean's statements (and the question) is about the involvement of Iraqis (or the Vietnamese) in self-defense and self-government.

So in line with the context of the question, who is the "we" can Dean is referring to in his statement?  The "we" here likely refers to the United States without a strong Iraqi army and government.  Dean is saying that the United States can't win the war without their strength and support...without it, we'll end up in another Vietnam-like situation. 

This story is similar to the feigned outrage by some Democrats when Bush said "I don't think you can win" the war on terror in an interview with Matt Lauer.  Reading the entire statement, it's clear that Bush was commenting about how terrorism can be minimized but not eradicated.  But that didn't stop people from using this sound bite to score political points.  Unfortunately, the same thing is happening to Dean today. 

Comments

[Seixon]

Oh please. Dean said that we can't win this war, and therefore we should pull out and not make the same mistake as we did in Vietnam: staying in too long and getting our troops killed.

That is the full context of what he is saying. Nice try to spin it though. Dean was just finally being candid about what he and other Democrats have felt all along - that this is an unwinnable war just like Vietnam.

[Llama School]

But he said that we can't win the war in a discussion about getting the Iraqis to do "a better job of defending themselves and taking a greater role". He then mentioned that we stayed too long supporting a weak S. Vietnam and we risk making the same mistake now.

It's possible to interpret this in a different way way, as Dean isn't clear as to the context for "we" in his statement. For instance, another way this could be interpreted is that "we" is America under the current leadership. This is consistent with previous comments in the interview, referring to our current strategy as a "failed strategy".

But it's not evident that Dean is saying that the war in unwinnable.

[M. Eckhart]

Merry Christmas!