"Have We Been Here Before?"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how Anna Quindlen's article, "We've Been Here Before" attempts to liken the current War in Iraq to the U.S.A's war in Vietnam which started in 1959 and ended on April 30, 1975. It looks at how Quindlen attempts to convince the reader that the two war situations are the same by offering a series of points that are intended to show the similarities in the two wars and create the idea in the reader's mind that they are so similar they should be considered the same. The paper contends that Quindlen's argument is based on false analogy and that the whole article is riddled with fallacies of many types which include red herrings, ad hominum attacks and appeals to misery. The author of the paper maintains that these fallacies combined with the false analogy fallacy are the reasons that Quindlen's argument fails.

From the Paper:

"The most common fallacy in this article is the ad hominum fallacy which means to launch a personal attack towards someone. The subject of this personal attack is President Bush who in almost every paragraph receives criticism of some sort. Quindlen attempts through many different measures to undermine Bush's character, frequently calling him arrogant and claiming that the War in Iraq is based on his ego. She also mentions that Bush has not attended a single soldier's funeral which is an underhanded way of telling the reader Bush has no sympathy for the dead in Iraq and cares only about victory. This is an obvious red herring, a diversionary argument that in no way supports her original claim. It seems that the majority of the argument is devoted to convincing the reader that Bush is not a suitable leader and that he is a man of poor character. This may or may not be true but as with the red herring goes nowhere in proving that the Vietnam War and the War in Iraq are the same or even similar. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Quindlen, Anna. "We've Been Here Before." Newsweek 31/10/05
• Stoker, D. "Insurgencies Rarely Win - And Iraq Won't Be Any Different (Maybe)". 18/02/07 <www.foreignpolicy.com >
• Vietnam War from Wikipedia, 18/02/07 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War>

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