Bush makes Iraq admission

Washington: US President George W Bush has admitted for the first time that there could be a similarity between the violence in Iraq and the Vietnam war.

He said that claims that the current level of killing could be compared with the infamous Tet Offensive in Vietnam "could be right".

The Tet Offensive was a series of sustained attacks launched by the North Vietnamese in 1968 which is largely thought to have helped turn public opinion against the war.

Bush told ABC News that insurgents were trying to inflict so much damage that the US forces would leave Iraq.

He added: "There's certainly a stepped up level of violence.

"First of all, Al-Qaeda is still very active in Iraq. They are dangerous. They are lethal. They are trying to not only kill
American troops, but they're trying to foment sectarian violence.

"They believe that if they can create enough chaos, the American people will grow sick and tired of the Iraqi effort and will cause
(the) government to withdraw."

After the interview, the White House clarified the president's comments, saying the comparison was about the propoganda war waged in the Tet offensive, and that "the enemy is trying to shake our will".

The comparison between Iraq's recent rise in violence and the Tet Offensive was raised by New York Times and Gulf News columnist Thomas Friedman.

He described the current situation as "the jihadist equivalent of the Tet offensive."

In his column he said: "Total US troop deaths in Iraq this month have reached 53, putting October on a path to be the third deadliest month of the entire war for the US military. Iraqis are now being killed at the rate of 100 a day now...

"The jihadists want to sow so much havoc that Bush supporters will be defeated in the midterms and the president will face a revolt from his own party, as well as from the Democrats, if he does not begin a pullout from Iraq."

Thomas Friedman's column can be found in the October 19 print edition of Gulf News.