HONOLULU -- After the victory of the U.S. over Iraq in 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush proclaimed: "The Vietnam syndrome is buried forever in the sands of the Arabian Peninsula."
He asserted that the American people had shed their reluctance to apply military power that was a consequence of the agonizing war that the United States fought in Vietnam from 1954 to 1973. Americans would support a war whose rationale was clearly explained to them, that unleashed overwhelming power to obtain a rapid conclusion and that had a well-defined exit strategy.
Unhappily, and with due respect to the presidency, Bush was wrong. The Vietnam syndrome is still operative and is hurtling down on the head of his son, President George W. Bush.