CBS’s Lara Logan Defends Afghanistan War, Comparison to Vietnam is ‘Crap’

Appearing as a guest on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report on Thursday, CBS News correspondent Lara Logan defended America’s continued war effort in Afghanistan, and argued that it is "crap" that some have made comparisons between Afghanistan and the Vietnam War. Logan: "You know, the ridiculous thing about all these comparisons – it’s the graveyard of empires, it’s Obama's Vietnam – it’s all that crap, right?"

Logan, who has spent years in the field covering the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq, went on to make a strong case in favor of staying in Afghanistan and continuing the fight against Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror group because of the threat the group still poses, as she cited bin Laden's stated desire to attack America's homeland with weapons of mass destruction:

The truth is that when the Vietnam War ended, the Viet Cong didn't follow the U.S. back home. And that's the big difference. You don't have to listen to one President or another President. It's not political. Listen to bin Laden. Go and read what he has said: We will follow the United States, we will attack the homeland again, we will use nuclear weapons, we will use biological warfare. I mean, it's very simple. Everything al-Qaeda has ever said they were going to do before, they've done. There is no reason to doubt his intentions.

Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, December 10, Colbert Report on Comedy Central:

STEPHEN COLBERT: Having been over there for so many years, there’s a lot of talk now, Afghanistan is Obama’s Vietnam. Okay? We thought Iraq was Bush’s Vietnam. It turned out to be Bush’s Korea. What other war will Afghanistan turn out to be? Because we can’t ever call any war its own war. It has to look like another war from the past. Will it be the Spanish-American War?

LARA LOGAN: You know, the ridiculous thing about all these comparisons – it’s the graveyard of empires, it’s Obama Vietnam – it’s all that crap, right?

COLBERT: This is a family show.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

LOGAN: The truth is that when the Vietnam War ended, the Viet Cong didn’t follow the U.S. back home. And that’s the big difference. You don’t have to listen to one President or another President. It’s not political. Listen to bin Laden. Go and read what he has said: We will follow the United States, we will attack the homeland again, we will use nuclear weapons, we will use biological warfare. I mean, it’s very simple. Everything al-Qaeda has ever said they were going to do before, they’ve done. There is no reason to doubt his intentions.