--- Kevin Tarr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > but I've been hearing people talking about this > lately, almost sounds like > talking points: America won every battle in Vietnam, > they had massive > superiority everywhere but the problem was they > couldn't attack very > obvious military targets, they were hamstrung by > high level officers, > president Johnson once said "they can't bomb an > outhouse without my approval": > > http://www.afa.org/magazine/editorial/06edit95.html > > captured NV officers knew they would win, because > they were winning the > public opinion side. > > > Just wondering if I read your statement wrong, or > I'm hearing the history > wrong. > > Kevin T. - VRWC
I think that you're hearing the history that the American military has decided is the correct one - it's just an interpretation that I happen (very strongly) to disagree with. I hope, btw, that this position on a fairly emotional issue puts to rest any accusations of me just parroting the military line. A couple of good books on the subject - Max Boot's _Small Wars_ on small wars in general, with a good focus on Vietnam, and Eliot Cohen's _Supreme Command_, on civilian control of the military in democratic societies, also with a good chapter on Vietnam. I could also probably dig up my undergraduate paper on the subject if you're really interested. It wasn't my best work by any means, but it has the rudiments of the argument. I think you have to distinguish between good micromanagement and bad micromanagement. LBJ did exercise (sometimes ludicrous) control over some facets of the war - but he never exercised real civilian control by forcing the Chiefs to come up with a plan more creative than "bomb, and then bomb some more." If he had done as Lincoln would have and just started relieving Generals who didn't get results, instead of sticking with Westmoreland, he would eventually have ended up with either Creighton Abrams in the Army, or Krulak in the Marines. In either of those cases I think the outcome of the war would have been very, very different. Gautam __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more http://platinum.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
