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Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1055-1445265,00.html
This is Not "Apocalypse Now" in Iraq
(Times-UK) Michael Gove - In Vietnam the Communist forces were ideologically united, enjoyed broad popular support, and were battling against a corrupt status quo with the promise of a radically different, and more hopeful, future. In Iraq, by contrast, the insurgents are united only in their hatred of the West and dislike of democracy. The most implacable are remnants from Saddam Hussein's most loyal cadres, joined by other Sunnis who fear that the privileges their minority group once enjoyed will be lost in a future democratic Iraq. Their struggle has been augmented by outside jihadis from Syria, Jordan, and across the Arab world. While they might hanker for the restoration of Sunni minority rule, such a reactionary step could, by definition, never secure majority popular support. In Iraq, unlike Vietnam, it is the Americans who are offering an escape from the corrupt status quo that prevails in the region.