Before we engage our military power in a foreign land, we should make quite certain that we comprehend the nature of the struggle and the play of the forces it represents. More over, we should appraise our actions not only as we see them but also as they are likely to be viewed by other nations - and particularly our friends and allies.
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Even if we had given our military a free hand, our effort would still have failed because there was no adequate indigenous political base on which our power could be emplaced. And that provides another lesson we must learn if we are to avoid the same mistakes a second time.
South Vietnam was never a nation but an improvisation - a geographical assignation for what Charles De Gaulle once described as a piece of "rotten country."
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Before we engage our military power
In Diplomacy For a Crowded World, George W. Ball cited the following as a lesson that should have been learned from the American invasion and occupation of Vietnam:
