In a recent speech delivered to thousands of US war veterans in Kansas city, President Bush expressed his belief that Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki is an influential figure capable of leading war-ravaged Iraq. But on the previous day, Mr Bush expressed dissatisfaction with PM Maliki’s Government, which, he said, if it failed to obtain positive results from reconciliation and violence reduction, he would be removed from office. Mr Bush’s flip-flop on Mr Maliki’s ability showed that the US administration is hedging its bets on the Iraqi issue.

In fact, Mr Bush is suffering great pressure from the US Congress and members of the Republican Party over the current deadlock in Iraq.

Less than three weeks from now on September 15, the Bush administration will have to submit to Congress a report on US efforts in restoring security and stability in Iraq. If the matter progresses well, Mr Bush hopes to receive congressional support for maintaining US troops in Iraq. But how can the Bush administration achieve this goal while bloody violence is escalating in the country?

The US public was outraged when Mr Bush compared the US strategy in Iraqi with the previous one in Vietnam. He said that the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam 30 years ago had caused the killing fields in Cambodia and claimed thousands of lives in Vietnam.

There is no denying that Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge gangs caused the killing fields in Cambodia. US historian Robert Dallek once said that US troops stationed in Cambodia had destabilized the country, leading to the setting up of the Pol Pot genocidal regime.

It was the US aggressors, armed with weapons of mass destruction, air planes and toxic chemicals, who brought great suffering to innocent Vietnamese people in many parts of the country.

This fact is clear to all and sundry but President Bush is still trying to persuade Congress and his fellow citizens to accept US presence in Iraq and forget the losses his country has suffered during the Iraq war.

Up to now, the US has spent US$15 billion on the war, but the security situation in Iraq remains unstable and the death toll of US soldiers keeps increasing in the country.

Sectarian division has driven the country to the edge of a civil war. Developments in Iraq show that the Bush administration will have to go a long way before ensuring stable security in the country. Meanwhile, the US Congress and people realize it is high time the US forces had to withdraw from Iraq to avoid suffering a heavier loss of life.

The White House is trying to mislead public opinion by choosing the Vietnam lesson to warn of what will happen after a hasty pull-out from Iraq. For historians, this is a political bluff. Democrat senator John Kerry, who fought the Vietnam war, criticized President Bush for drawing an incorrect lesson from history.

It is obvious that the US failure to handle the security issue in Iraq has forced President Bush to make mistaken judgements on the history of the Vietnam war to justify the worsening situation in Iraq. The bottom line is that the Iraqi issue must be settled by political and sectarian forces themselves, not by military power.