Tuesday, August 24, 2010

A Few Thoughts on 3 Wars

Iraq:

There was an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, The Guns of August 1990 , where Fouad Ajami argues that, “The last 20 years would have been very different had the American forces taken that open road to Baghdad the first time around.” We can be confident that the decision to stop short of victory was made by President George H.W. Bush, possibly being influenced by General Powell.  I believe our military had both the ability and initiative to continue and bring the war to a more complete conclusion.  Whether we eliminated Saddam Hussein or not would have been made based on information we as civilians are not privy to.  If Saddam Hussein had been removed from the middle east equation at this time would that have affected the attacks on the World Trade Center? 

Vietnam:

Even though I agree that our entry into a conflict with Vietnam was both ill advised and most likely illegitimate the fact remains that we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Vietnam.  I am convinced that militarily the war was essentially won when the Tet Offensive failed. Why the media chose to portray it otherwise is pretty strong evidence that our media has had an agenda for a long time. On the other hand, it probably doesn't matter since our civilian leadership had already removed victory as an option early in the game. We learned quick enough that the enemy was completely committed to victory.  A significant follow up to stopping the Ted Offensive could have changed the outcome of the war and allowed us to leave much earlier with our pride intact and ultimately fewer lives lost.

Korea:

Even though Truman was a committed New Dealer I still liked him. He was both feisty and I believe honest. However, I totally disagree with his decision to not pursue total victory in Korea. Even if Truman was justified in relieving MacArthur of his command in Korea it does not in any way make MacArthur’s belief in total victory any less right.  We would not be dealing with North Korea now if we had gotten it right back then. Moreover, the people of North Korea would not have spent the past sixty years in misery.