Submitted by John Simpson, May 25, 2007 09:27

One can easily write off Ho Chi Minh's post-war conquest of the South, the millions sent to "re-education" camps, the Cambodian genocide and the countless Vietnamese boat people who risked their lives and those of their families to escape the arbitrary and capricious wrath of their enemies. The latter will be hardest for me to forget. As a sailor onboard the USS Midway, we set up tent cities in our hangar bays for the hundreds of boat people we picked up out of the South China Sea (those that hadn't been victimized or slaughtered by pirates, anyway). You can write off all that and say it wasn't our problem. The Viet Cong only wanted to rule Indochina. They could have cared less about America. It wasn't a grave national security issue for us millions. Just millions of graves for them.

The story today, however, is far different. Al Qaeda was not content with their tyranny and slaughter of the Afghan people alone. From there they staged attacks against us around the world, from Africa to our own shores. You can be sure that if Al Qaeda succeeds in Iraq, they will not be content with just slaughtering Shi'ites or "infidel" collaborators. Their victorious eyes will be set on us once again. The jihadis who now slaughter thousands of our soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians with glee will have much more time on their hands for other matters, as well as a perfectly situated staging area for whatever those plans might be.

If the Al Qaeda presence in Iraq is so severe that Sunni tribes in Anbar and other provinces like Diyala are forming "salvation fronts" and actually collaborating with us, their hated enemies, to rid themselves of Al Qaeda in Iraq, shouldn't be taking the fight to them there as well? Iraq is not Vietnam. Somalia would be a much better analogy. If we abandon Iraq to Al Qaeda, Columbia Professor Nicholas DeGenova might just get his million Mogadishus after all. Only they won't all be in Somalia, or even Iraq. Bet on it. I know bin Laden is.

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