Some people in our country have attempted to describe Iraq as a carbon copy of Vietnam.

More important, perhaps, is not what Iraq is but what it could be.

One thing is painfully clear to me. If we order our troops to withdraw now or in the immediate future without doing all we can to meet their needs, as expressed by General Lynch recently, we'll chisel another tragedy like Vietnam into our own history tablet.

In spring 1972, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) began an operation called the Easter offensive. At first the NVA was successful. The South Vietnamese (military) had problems, no doubt; they removed one general and replaced him with another, (but) by the end of summer 1972, with only 25,000 American combat troops incountry, the South prevailed and pushed back the NVA.

We must remember what occurred despite all of this. Congress blatantly stopped funding the troops and the war effort, ending in that horrible scene on the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy, where the abandonment of the Vietnamese people was captured on film.

These things aren't talked about much anymore. But a few years ago, I found some of the pain of Vietnam still on the arms of my Vietnamese landscaper who was imprisoned by the NVA from 1975-1985.

I asked him if he was angry about being abandoned. He said "no," because after he was released from prison, the U.S. allowed him and his family to come to America, to start a new life. I'm glad he has no anger. We are truly blessed to have him here. But that can't assuage the feeling of shame I have, as an American.

We have an obligation to Iraqis now, whether we feel comfortable with that or not. We have an obligation to the troops we've lost already and to those who, just a few weeks ago, finally arrived to begin the "surge" in full force. So far, it appears to be working. Onethird of Iraq, Anbar Province, appears to be a success, which is holding. It was considered lost to Al Qaeda just one year ago.

I've heard some people say they don't care about the Iraqis.

Well, to them I say this: We're still obligated to humanity itself.

We must assume that the mass graves--200,000-plus--discovered in Iraq since 2003 will be refilled if we abandon Iraq like we abandoned South Vietnam. With the lesson of so many we left behind, and the millions killed by the Khmer Rouge's genocide, we have no excuse but to help our troops succeed by defending them against our own politicians.

We shouldn't allow our country to repeat such an ugly past. Timothy J. Bond Thousand Oaks