Vietnam John

For my readers who have time to read a full Atlantic article, this is a great piece (I've mentioned before) on how Vietnam informs McCain's view of Iraq. A great history refresher - and a nice insight into McCain's stubbornness on Iraq. Good informal quotes by McCain, and interesting Nam-Iraq parallels.

But because of the scope of the offensive and the number of American casualties it inflicted, Tet was widely interpreted by the American media as a strategic defeat for the United States, and prompted a crisis within the Johnson administration. In his writings, Admiral McCain never appears to acknowledge that Tet was understood that way. His son does acknowledge that Tet was seen as a loss, but nonetheless rejects what he terms the “defeatist” interpretation.