AScribe Newswire -- "The nearly 2,000 Americans killed in combat
(1,998 on October 24, 2005) in Iraq since 2003 are more than
were lost in Vietnam combat in the first four years of U.S.
combat (1961-1965, when just over 1800 died). This total is more
than were lost in the last two years of combat (1971-1972, when
just over 1600 died)," recounts Maurice Isserman, co-author of
"America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s."
"Today public opinion polls show that the percentage of
Americans who believe that it was a mistake for the U.S. to go
to war in Iraq is roughly comparable to the number of Americans
who believed it was a mistake for the U.S. to go to war in
Vietnam in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive in 1968. The
principal difference between the anti-war opposition of 2005,
and that of 1968, is that in the Vietnam war a significant group
of Democratic Party leaders - starting with Senators Morse and
Gruening in 1964 and eventually including such figures as
Senators Fulbright, McCarthy, Kennedy (Robert and Ted), and
McGovern - joined the opposition to the war. This lent
legitimacy and influence to the opposition. Today, the
Democratic party, with a few brave exceptions, mostly in the
House of Representatives, is supportive of or silent about the
war," observes Isserman.
http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20051024.120319&time=13