Commentators should be comparing departure with Saigon in 1973

Editor, The Times:

Now that the last U.S. combat brigade has left Iraq two weeks ahead of schedule, many commentators are contrasting this orderly withdrawal from Iraq with the chaotic scene when the last helicopters left Saigon in the spring of 1975 [“Leaving Iraq: Last U.S. combat brigade departs,” page one, Aug. 19]. Although no one is yet repeating George W. Bush’s famous “mission accomplished,” there is this tangible feeling that this time we have done it right.

Yes, Vietnam is the war that we should be comparing Iraq to; No, our leaving Saigon is not the appropriate standard with which to compare the events of this week. What we should measure against is the removal of U.S. forces from Saigon in early 1973 following the Paris Peace Talks. That withdrawal, too, was done in an orderly manner. How many political analysts today would give “even money” that the regime — remember there is still no government five months after the election — we have left behind will last even the two years that the South Vietnamese polity did after the orderly withdrawal of our combat forces in 1973?

If we want comparisons to the past fall of the U.S. embassy in Saigon, envision the scene a couple years from now when the last helicopters carrying United States diplomatic staff leave the Green Zone (or whatever it is now called) in the force of a full-scale invasion from (implicitly) Iranian-backed forces.

That will be the true measure of comparison, and I fear that our conclusion can be succinctly put as “different war, different decade, same result.”

— Bill O’Meara, Seattle

Prolonged U.S. presence will not help Iraqis

This week, the last combat convoy left Iraq. By the end of the month, the remaining combat forces will also leave the country. This puts the Obama administration on track to reduce the U.S. troop level to 50,000 by Aug. 31.

This is an important step, but does not by itself end the occupation of Iraq. The administration vowed to completely withdraw from Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011. That is a deadline we must meet. The last 20 years of war, sanctions and occupation have broken Iraq.

Millions of Iraqis have been killed, injured, traumatized, displaced or forced to flee and live as refugees. Breaking our promises and prolonging the occupation will not help solve any of the challenges the war-worn country is facing. In fact, our continued presence would exacerbate the Iraqis’ woes.

Diane Shaughnessy, Auburn