BOB GARFIELD: Last Wednesday, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote that what we're seeing in Iraq, quote, "seems like the Jihadist equivalent of the Tet Offensive." It wasn't the first time that the war in Iraq has been compared to the war in Vietnam. That comparison has been brought out, tried on, discarded, and then brought out again, in various colors and styles, for three years. But this time, something different happened. President Bush more or less agreed. Here's George Stephanopoulos asking the President on ABC News whether Friedman could be right.

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH: He could be right. There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But what's your gut tell you?

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH: George, my gut tells me that they have all along been trying to inflict enough damage that we leave. And the leaders of al Qaeda have made that very clear.

BOB GARFIELD: That exchange was picked up and covered around the globe. But David Halberstam, who covered the Vietnam War for The New York Times, says the direct comparison to the Tet Offensive just isn't right.

DAVID HALBERSTAM: Well, in Tet, in early 1968, the other side, the North Vietnamese regulars and the Viet Cong, who rarely stood and fought - they would hit and disappear because they wanted to conserve their forces against a Western Army that had vastly superior armaments - they stood and fought, and they came right into the American Embassy in Saigon. And therefore, it dented the United States government's view that we were constantly winning the war. What it showed was that they could keep coming; that therefore the war had not worked. And it was a huge political shock, not so much to critics of the war, not to a population that was fast changing on the war, but to the political allies of Johnson, and it really shattered him. He knew he could not pull it off.

BOB GARFIELD: Do you see going on in Iraq now its equivalent, a change in the dynamic that is going to suddenly sway public opinion here? Do you think Tom Friedman was right?

DAVID HALBERSTAM: I am puzzled reading the Tom Friedman column, which, for someone who's a very careful, skilled and thoughtful journalist, seems extremely careless in his references to Tet. I think it's poorly done on what happened to Tet, and poorly compared to what is happening today. So I think anybody paying attention in this country knows for quite a while that the White House tragically miscalculated what was going to happen in Iraq. In fact, I think Americans have been more suspicious about the alleged promises of victory in this war because of Vietnam. I think the general public has been more skeptical.

BOB GARFIELD: And yet, George Stephanopoulos hits the President with the question, is this the Tet Offensive of Iraq? And the President shrugs and says, uh, maybe. As a student of both Vietnam and journalism - you've written books about both - what do you make of the dynamics of the media story?

DAVID HALBERSTAM: Well, I can't really tell, because what's interesting about the stuff coming out of the Stephanopoulos/Bush interview is that I don't know what either of them is really saying in terms of placing this in the context of Tet, and what they think Tet means. The President has been exceptionally weak on the history of the Vietnam War. Is he going to be like one of these right-wing people who thinks that, in fact, Tet was a victory for America but a political defeat, and therefore is what he's saying here the war is really going better than this momentary glitch shows? I mean, I can't tell exactly what the President is saying, and certainly I don't have any sense that Stephanopoulos has defined it particularly well or turned to anybody who knew anything much about Vietnam. So it seems to me to be weak reporting, and as far as I can tell, a rather vague answer. I mean, this is a President who was ready to say, almost from day one, you know, mission accomplished, when he flew into the carrier off San Diego. And that's sort of like proclaiming a victory in the World Series after one out in the first inning of the first game.

BOB GARFIELD: Okay, David. Thank you very much.

DAVID HALBERSTAM: Thank you.

BOB GARFIELD: David Halberstam covered the Vietnam War for The New York Times and has written books on everything from Vietnam to the media to baseball.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: This is On the Media from NPR. [MUSIC UP AND UNDER] END SEGMENT A STATION BREAK ONE (MUSIC)


copyright ©"The Meaning of Tet"

October 20, 2006


BOB GARFIELD: Last Wednesday, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote that what we're seeing in Iraq, quote, "seems like the Jihadist equivalent of the Tet Offensive." It wasn't the first time that the war in Iraq has been compared to the war in Vietnam. That comparison has been brought out, tried on, discarded, and then brought out again, in various colors and styles, for three years. But this time, something different happened. President Bush more or less agreed. Here's George Stephanopoulos asking the President on ABC News whether Friedman could be right.

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH: He could be right. There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But what's your gut tell you?

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH: George, my gut tells me that they have all along been trying to inflict enough damage that we leave. And the leaders of al Qaeda have made that very clear.

BOB GARFIELD: That exchange was picked up and covered around the globe. But David Halberstam, who covered the Vietnam War for The New York Times, says the direct comparison to the Tet Offensive just isn't right.

DAVID HALBERSTAM: Well, in Tet, in early 1968, the other side, the North Vietnamese regulars and the Viet Cong, who rarely stood and fought - they would hit and disappear because they wanted to conserve their forces against a Western Army that had vastly superior armaments - they stood and fought, and they came right into the American Embassy in Saigon. And therefore, it dented the United States government's view that we were constantly winning the war. What it showed was that they could keep coming; that therefore the war had not worked. And it was a huge political shock, not so much to critics of the war, not to a population that was fast changing on the war, but to the political allies of Johnson, and it really shattered him. He knew he could not pull it off.

BOB GARFIELD: Do you see going on in Iraq now its equivalent, a change in the dynamic that is going to suddenly sway public opinion here? Do you think Tom Friedman was right?

DAVID HALBERSTAM: I am puzzled reading the Tom Friedman column, which, for someone who's a very careful, skilled and thoughtful journalist, seems extremely careless in his references to Tet. I think it's poorly done on what happened to Tet, and poorly compared to what is happening today. So I think anybody paying attention in this country knows for quite a while that the White House tragically miscalculated what was going to happen in Iraq. In fact, I think Americans have been more suspicious about the alleged promises of victory in this war because of Vietnam. I think the general public has been more skeptical.

BOB GARFIELD: And yet, George Stephanopoulos hits the President with the question, is this the Tet Offensive of Iraq? And the President shrugs and says, uh, maybe. As a student of both Vietnam and journalism - you've written books about both - what do you make of the dynamics of the media story?

DAVID HALBERSTAM: Well, I can't really tell, because what's interesting about the stuff coming out of the Stephanopoulos/Bush interview is that I don't know what either of them is really saying in terms of placing this in the context of Tet, and what they think Tet means. The President has been exceptionally weak on the history of the Vietnam War. Is he going to be like one of these right-wing people who thinks that, in fact, Tet was a victory for America but a political defeat, and therefore is what he's saying here the war is really going better than this momentary glitch shows? I mean, I can't tell exactly what the President is saying, and certainly I don't have any sense that Stephanopoulos has defined it particularly well or turned to anybody who knew anything much about Vietnam. So it seems to me to be weak reporting, and as far as I can tell, a rather vague answer. I mean, this is a President who was ready to say, almost from day one, you know, mission accomplished, when he flew into the carrier off San Diego. And that's sort of like proclaiming a victory in the World Series after one out in the first inning of the first game.

BOB GARFIELD: Okay, David. Thank you very much.

DAVID HALBERSTAM: Thank you.

BOB GARFIELD: David Halberstam covered the Vietnam War for The New York Times and has written books on everything from Vietnam to the media to baseball.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: This is On the Media from NPR.