Op-For's fact v fiction on Vietnam

A friend passed along an email "Vietnam: Fact or Fiction" that was chock full of great facts abouve Vietnam, and I traced it back to this website - Op-For (with sourcing from FR). It's a "keeper" that gives a low-down on many Vietnam facts:

- Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.

- Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent.

- Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison - only one-half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes.

- As of the current Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE Vietnam vets are not.

- Myth: Common Belief is that most Vietnam veterans were drafted.
Fact: 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers.

The above is just a snippet of what it has. Well worth a visit. This item is pertinent given the coverage of Iraq war that invariably ignores the depravity of the enemy in Iraq:

Isolated atrocities committed by American Soldiers produced torrents of outrage from anti-war critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any media mention at all. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and school teachers. - Nixon Presidential Papers Common Myths Dispelled: Myth: Common Belief is that most Vietnam veterans were drafted. Fact: 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers.

And then there is this quote, also apropos our current situation:

Was in the Da Nang area with the 1st MAW for almost a year, and believe we were there for a good reason. Still do.
My good wife, God bless her, says we 'lost' that one. Still doesn't understand that we did not lose.........we quit, thanks to the lily livered politicians and celebrities.
Some of them are still with us today. Pity.

Some lily-livered politicians are desperate to relive Saigon 1975. The Democrats want to lose Iraq on Bush's watch, hence their desperation to leave by 2008. How sad that 'victory' to them means running from the central battlefield we face in the war on terror.