1.12.2007
Anderton Attacks Iraq as "Another Vietnam" (Stuff.co.nz)
BY DAN HUTCHINSON and KIM RUSCOE - The Dominion Post | Friday, 12 January 2007
Reuters
The Government's duty minister has launched a blistering attack on United States President George W Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.
Duty minister Jim Anderton is drawing comparisons with the Vietnam War fiasco as President Bush prepares to dispatch a further 21,500 soldiers to Iraq.
But Prime Minister Helen Clark was quick to distance herself from the comments, claiming they were not made on behalf of the Government.
Mr Bush announced the extra troops yesterday as an attempt to restore order to the blood-stained streets of Baghdad. Asked for Government reaction, Mr Anderton compared the Iraq campaign to the mistakes of Napoleon, Genghis Khan and Vietnam.
"It is hard to see how an additional 20,000-25,000 troops are going to be capable of making any real difference and this has an eerie Vietnam revisited element to it.
"One wonders whether the lessons I would have expected to be learnt from that fiasco have been learnt in any way at all.
"It is literally years since Mr Bush landed on an aircraft carrier and announced the war was over. I don't know whether he remembers that," he said.
"It is very easy to get into (wars) but very hard to get out of them. The US is not the first or the last military power to find that out.
"We remain consistent with our original view about military action not being a sustainable or long-term contributor to the peaceful development of Iraq," he said.
But Miss Clark claimed yesterday that Mr Anderton was speaking as leader of the Progressive Party and local MP, not as the Government's duty minister.
Mr Anderton was specifically asked, as duty minister, for Government comment on the issue.
(More ... Stuff > Dominion Post > World) ¶ 08:18
Reuters
The Government's duty minister has launched a blistering attack on United States President George W Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.
Duty minister Jim Anderton is drawing comparisons with the Vietnam War fiasco as President Bush prepares to dispatch a further 21,500 soldiers to Iraq.
But Prime Minister Helen Clark was quick to distance herself from the comments, claiming they were not made on behalf of the Government.
Mr Bush announced the extra troops yesterday as an attempt to restore order to the blood-stained streets of Baghdad. Asked for Government reaction, Mr Anderton compared the Iraq campaign to the mistakes of Napoleon, Genghis Khan and Vietnam.
"It is hard to see how an additional 20,000-25,000 troops are going to be capable of making any real difference and this has an eerie Vietnam revisited element to it.
"One wonders whether the lessons I would have expected to be learnt from that fiasco have been learnt in any way at all.
"It is literally years since Mr Bush landed on an aircraft carrier and announced the war was over. I don't know whether he remembers that," he said.
"It is very easy to get into (wars) but very hard to get out of them. The US is not the first or the last military power to find that out.
"We remain consistent with our original view about military action not being a sustainable or long-term contributor to the peaceful development of Iraq," he said.
But Miss Clark claimed yesterday that Mr Anderton was speaking as leader of the Progressive Party and local MP, not as the Government's duty minister.
Mr Anderton was specifically asked, as duty minister, for Government comment on the issue.
(More ... Stuff > Dominion Post > World) ¶ 08:18
