It's Not The Cellphones, Rummie

I usually try to shy away from comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq (except of course when observing the fact that Bush had an extremely successful "exit strategy" with Vietnam), but this is just too poignant to let pass.

This week, Rumsfeld used as one example of our progress toward success in Iraq the "incredible number of cell phones which is an entirely new thing in that country."

I found this painfully ironic, because this week I also received the above photo from a Vietnamese friend who recently returned from a visit to Vietnam. Commenting on the picture, he said "Hanoi’s younger generation, like this one, has no memory of the war and they are the work force and the young entrepeneurs who help rebuild the country by pushing the freemarket economy forward."

That's what I would consider "progress," and it's progress that the Vietnamese people not only made on their own but progress that they couldn't have begun to make with our interference. What's most paradoxical is that this girl looks any one of thousands of girls you might see in any American college town, yet she also represents the end result of our failed policies, a reminder that freedom cannot be imposed. A common slogan among the pro-war crowd is "freedom isn't free." If you add that freedom can only be purchased by those who are seeking it, I'd agree.

I hope one day to see a picture of an Iraqi girl with a cell phone riding a scooter down a street in Baghdad. But it ain't gonna happen while that street is filled with the sound of American boots marching toward freedom.