Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson, authors of “Viet Not” in our latest issue, pull up a chair at TPM Café to discuss their article. Simon and Stevenson carefully mine the historical record to argue that, contra leading neoconservatives, the lessons of the Vietnam War instruct America to begin withdrawing from Iraq immediately. Simon and Stevenson write:

As public support for the Iraq war has dwindled, and momentum has gathered in Congress for a substantial drawdown of troops, President Bush and some of his supporters have revived the argument that congressional Democrats prevented the American military from finishing a war that the United States could have won in Vietnam. In fact, an American victory in Vietnam was always unlikely, and the Vietnam War’s high political costs resulted from withdrawing not too soon but too late.”

Throughout the week, the authors will take feedback from readers and expand upon their argument. You can read the entire discussion here. And you can find the original article on which the discussion is based here.