General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I do not worship the ground our military walks on [View all]truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)You go too easy on the military.
That line about only losing wars because of poor civilian leadership? That was always the "hawk" dodge regarding Vietnam. The truth is we lost in Vietnam. Our tactics were wrong, our strategy was wrong and our whole reason for being there was wrong. We wouldn't have been there at all if we--including the generals and the civilian leadership--understood military history, and regional history....if we understood that some wars can't be won by military means*, and many don't need to be fought at all.
Since WWII this country has engaged in a number of "wars" and "police actions" and special ops, and pretty much all of them were short-sighted, unnecessary, expensive and counter-productive. Were you around for the Cuban Missile Crisis? The military brass were chomping at the bit to start a war. Do you think that would have been a good plan?
Fact is, there's plenty of stupidity on both sides of the military/civilian divide. And our military now is far more involved with furthering our corporations' interests, not OURS. And the civilian leadership the same.
*You'd think the PTB would get that since we only won the Revolutionary War by staying-in-the-field-but-not-fighting the greatest military power of the day.