In If 1968 is like 2008, then who's Nixon?, I was struck by the parallels between the administrations of GWB and LBJ. Their respective chummiest with the "good ole boys" of the war corporations overrode common sense and the advice of active service commanders. The results were tragic engagements in civil wars half way around the world.
Jim Cox in Iraq Is Not Vietnam...........or is it? takes this thought a bit further with a chart comparing the first few years of U.S. troop involvement in the Vietnam and Iraq wars.
The parallels are eerie. History does repeat itself.