Echoes of another war

‍This is an excerpt from the Substack by Robert Reich, the former U.S. Secretary of Labor. You can read the full version on his site here.

‍ This is starting to feel a lot like the Vietnam War.

The [other] morning, Iran shot down a U.S. F-15E fighter jet over Iran, according to U.S. and Israeli officials. The fate of the plane’s crew is unclear. American officials are scrambling to mount a search and rescue operation. Anyone recall that this was how the Vietnam began to escalate?

Another parallel with Vietnam: Falsely optimistic reports from the Defense Department.

A few days ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran’s air defenses were so “degraded” that the United States was sending B-52 bombers over the country. Note that the F-15E is a much smaller, faster, and more agile bomber. It’s supposed to be a more difficult target than the B-52s.

Perhaps I’m just being a grouchy old man who is still shaken by the tragedy of Vietnam all those years ago. I lost some good friends to that war. Trump and I are about the same age; he must remember, too.

It was a war characterized by lies, arrogance and stupidity. This one feels similar.

I was too short to serve, then. Trump pretended to have bone spurs.