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As the casualties mount, it is worth considering Senator Ted Kennedy’s charge that Iraq is “George Bush’s Vietnam,” thinking about what that means and how the press has covered it. Kennedy’s speech is largely about Bush Administration lies and failures across a number of policy areas (economy, Medicare, education) of which Iraq is but one, and a smaller one at that. Much of the speech is commonplace (if at times a bit partisan), and if you have been reading much about the Bush Administration you may be struck by how very mainstream it is among the administration’s critics. So what was ‘newsworthy’ about the suggestion that Iraq is Bush’s Vietnam, and how is or isn’t Iraq like Vietnam?

Kennedy seems to suggest the lies, a “preconceived agenda,” and “ideology” are the main similarities between Bush’s Iraq policy and Vietnam, and in the main he’s right - and that isn’t a radical position. What are the differences between Iraq and Vietnam? While Kennedy doesn’t discuss this, here are a few easy ones. The casualties in Iraq aren’t nearly as high as Vietnam (though they are getting higher - and any American death in Iraq for this war is too much). The population now going to war is ‘all-volunteer’ (if often economically disadvantaged), unlike the broader group that the draft impacted in Vietnam (even if many didn’t go to war, like many in the Bush Administration). And a significant difference, despite our distance from Vietnam, is that we have Vietnam for a reference - during that war there was nothing comparable in the past.

So how newsworthy is the analogy? The basic charge of lies, an existing agenda and ideological reasons for going into Iraq is well documented in sources like the New York Times, Washington Post, The New Republic, The Nation and numerous books on Bush. What appears to be newsworthy, then, is Kennedy making the charge. What is really newsworthy, paradoxically, is that the press views such commonplace views as highly newsworthy - the press is failing U.S. citizens by failing to cover the Administration. And if I seem to contradict myself, in suggesting a number of sources that you can read to verify Kennedy’s accusation, and yet saying the press is failing the people, I’m not. The tragedy is that the news is uneven, and often seems to ignore its own reports about the Bush Administration, while taking their lying line and reporting it unquestioned. The Administration is too often not challenged in its lies. You have to pay attention, read often and not depend solely on TV news (good advice in general). I just Googled: washingtonpost Bush Iraq deception - and this is what came up first - a perfect metaphor for the coverage. Enough said.