RE: Military respones, when appropriate?

["A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyross.com>]

On 17 Sep 2001, at 16:13, Paul Hopfgarten wrote:

> The USSR campaign in Afghanistan failed (IMHO) for the same reason Vietnam
> failed. #1 Not a clearly-defined goal/end point, and #2 lack of support by
> the country conducting the assault.

I think the main reason Vietnam failed was that Johnson kept trying to 
fight a conventional war and failed to understand guerilla warfare.  
Kennedy understood guerilla warfare and was trying to copy the 
successful British counter-insurgency campaign in Malaya.  I've often 
wondered how Vietnam might have played out had Kennedy not been 
assasinated.

What I fear is that Bush doesn't understand the difference either. 


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 A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
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