Quite a few wise words from the first guest. He or she even resisted mentioning continents among the Iraq-Vietnam differences, presumably because both are in the same continent.

Kendall, it's unreasonable to ask your fellow opponents of the war where the whole mess is heading. Most of us (you included, no doubt) opposed it precisely because it always looked like a hole with no bottom. Yet however predictable that was (which was very), I for one could not have foreseen the extent to which the US military would keep on digging, once in that hole.

The abuse of four Americans was an outrage, but so has been the mindless carnage wreaked in revenge. More to the point, it has been utterly counterproductive. It has succeeded in giving militant Sunnis and Shiites common cause against the occupying power, and has even brought condemnation from US placepeople on the Iraq governing council.

There are indeed few parallels here with Vietnam, beyond that brainless swagger so often associated with the US military. What happened in the Lebanon may indeed be instructive, but if I was a US commander I'd probably be looking closest at the catastrophic efforts of Russia to keep the lid on Chechnya.