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2013-03-25 Home Front: WoT

"Cold Blood": LBJ's Conduct of Limited War in Vietnam

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Posted by Pappy 2013-03-25 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 They were afraid of the Chinese who in the Korean war, when MacArthur successfully decimated the North Koreans and when just a few miles from the Chinese border, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops poured across the border to drive MacArthur back...

Didn't help that they were also afraid of a nuclear Soviet Union also on the side of the North Vietnamese.

MacArthur wanted to defeat China but Truman wouldn't let him. From that time on, North Korea and North Vietnam were only containment traps that slowly bled our forces into a stalemate in Korea, a retreat in Vietnam.

Posted by Glineck Angusoth6427 2013-03-25 00:30|| 2013-03-25 00:30|| Front Page Top

#2 MacArthur wanted to defeat China but Truman wouldn't let him

Maybe because after gutting the armed forces after WWII, Truman didn't want WWIII. With the Rosenberg et al group giving the Soviets the balance in nuclear capacity and the forces in Europe lacking sufficient conventional strength, if the US committed the necessary manpower for war in China, Moscow would roll to the Atlantic.

Given the satellite imagery of the Korean Peninsula, we know who won today.

As for Vietnam, it was surrendered politically from the Beltway, not militarily.

Johnson, as noted, lived in terror of a military revolt and did everything in his power to avert it. Themselves learning from Korea, the Joint Chiefs carefully refrained from anything even smacking of a direct challenge to civilian authority.

Yet no general officer resigned in protest on the conduct of the war.

Posted by Procopius2k 2013-03-25 01:03|| 2013-03-25 01:03|| Front Page Top

#3 Post-Cuba was when the Soviets began their full-blown military + nuclear buildup vee the US.

Both the Chicoms + Soviets threatened military ground intervention + potential NucWar iff US-Allied forces crossed the DMZ into North Vietnam, or built a Maginot-style borderline. around most or all of South Vietnam.

The above left the US wid only two real options -COMPLETE PULLOUT from South Vietnam, or else STAY + DEFEAT THE INSURGENCY.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2013-03-25 01:11|| 2013-03-25 01:11|| Front Page Top

#4 Yet no general officer resigned in protest on the conduct of the war. Posted by Procopius2k

.....and the gutless trend continues today with Benghazi as an example.

Posted by Besoeker 2013-03-25 02:46|| 2013-03-25 02:46|| Front Page Top

#5 Janis, I. (1971). Groupthink. In J.T. Wren (ed.), The leader's companion: Insights on leadership through the ages, (pp. 360-373). New York: The Free Press. [Reprinted courtesy of Psychology Today Magazine, (1971) published by Sussex Publishers, Inc.]

An excellent writing on the groupthink tyranny in the LBJ administration and other failed administrations.

HOWEVER, I do disagree with Herring on one point, LBJ PERSONALLY selected the targets on the bombing list for the Air Force. Every night plane loads of damage assessment photos would be flown from Clark AFB to Washington for LBJ and his drones to select targets.

Posted by Bill Clinton 2013-03-25 10:23|| 2013-03-25 10:23|| Front Page Top

#6 LBJ PERSONALLY selected the targets on the bombing list for the Air Force.

A fact Professor Herring mentions in his lecture.

Like I said - these are excerpts.

Posted by Pappy 2013-03-25 11:21|| 2013-03-25 11:21|| Front Page Top

#7 Richard the First let the AF pick the targets and let the Generals in charge know it was theirr ass. The result was Linebacker II.

Posted by Shipman 2013-03-25 18:52|| 2013-03-25 18:52|| Front Page Top

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