Christopher Hitchens: differenze tra le versioni

*I regimi sostenuti da Washington in Vietnam tendevano, tra l'atro, a identificarsi fortemente con una sola minoranza confessionale (quella cattolica), escludendo le forze laiche, nazionaliste e buddiste; il governo eletto in Iraq può anche avere una connotazione settaria, ma almeno attinge a popolazioni maggioritarie finora represse (curdi e sciiti) e per lo meno l’ambasciata americana cerca di attenuare le divisioni religiose ed etniche anziché alimentarle.

:''The American-sponsored regimes in Vietnam tended, among other things, to be strongly identified with one confessional minority (Catholic) to the exclusion of secular, nationalist and Buddhist forces. The elected government in Iraq may have a sectarian hue, but at least it draws upon hitherto repressed majority populations - Kurds and Shias - and at least the American embassy works as a solvent upon religious and ethnic divisions rather than an inciter of them.''<ref name="iraqvietnam"/>

:''President Eisenhower admitted that if there had ever been a fair election in Vietnam, it would have been won by Ho Chi Minh; the Baath party's successors refused to participate in the Iraqi elections and their jihadist allies declared that democracy was an alien concept and threatened all voters with murder.''<ref name="iraqvietnam"/>

*Il Vietnam fu vittima di armi chimiche; l’Iraq ha usato metodi illegali simili e ha cercato di sviluppare armi nucleari e biologiche.