The words 'Vietnam' and 'quagmire' are being studiously avoided by the Bush administration.
With little more than three weeks before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan forces a slowdown in the military hunt for Osama bin Laden as winter nears, a sense of desperation is palpable in Washington.
It is increasingly certain - if unspoken publicly - that only bin Laden's capture or death will end increasingly nagging questions surrounding the US strategy in its war on terrorism.
Mr Bush's 'new war' is haunted by lessons lingering from America's misadventure in Vietnam. With a poorly defined mission - war on North Vietnam was never actually declared - the US found itself mired in a bloated and bloody conflict than dragged on for more than a decade. Ending in defeat, it caused huge social and political ructions within the country and left an estimated three to four million Vietnamese and more than 50,000 Americans dead.
Its legacy rests heavily over the current action on the ground in Afghanistan, an equally mysterious land to many American eyes. There is talk of 'psy-ops' to help 'win hearts and minds' should a long-term guerilla war unfold. The dropping of leaflets and food supplies - including that most American of products, peanut butter - to starving Afghans echoes the days when chocolates and toothbrushes were poured from helicopters over Vietnamese villages. Then there is the return to combat of the US Air Force AC-130 Spectre gunship, feared by the Vietnamese for the torrent of bullets it sprayed.
Naturally, there are differences, too. The US enters this conflict with a more certain moral imperative following the horror and audacity of the terror attacks on Washington and New York.
