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THINKING
OUTSIDE THE BOX
Fighting
with both hands tied
Dr. Charles Ormsby
(10/04/07)
What was President Lincoln
thinking when he let General Sherman invade the Southern
States? Was he nuts? Or President Roosevelt when he
allowed the bombing of Germany, not to mention actually
letting Allied armies cross into Germany? Were they
Neanderthals?
Until the Korean War, the United States had never failed
to win a war. We’ve now failed to win two times
running and we’re working hard to make it three
straight.
There is one thing recent “wars” have in
common: the enemy is given a sanctuary where attacks by
U. S. forces are prohibited. In Korea, Truman declared
China off-limits to U. S. forces. In Vietnam, during most
of the conflict, Cambodia, Laos, China, and North Vietnam
were excluded from either ground or air attack, or both.
Now, in the Iraq conflict, Iran, Syria and portions of
Pakistan are safe havens for our enemies and their
sponsors.
What sanctuary was Germany afforded in WW II? None. Were
the Philippines offered to the Japanese as a sanctuary?
China? Southeast Asia? Taiwan? No, No, No, and Hell No.
We bombed them, shelled them and invaded their lands
whenever it was militarily advantageous.
We often recognize the Greatest Generation (although
never enough) and every possible honor we give them is
well deserved. But did they fight an enemy that had a
place to rest up without fear of attack? A place to
recoup, reconstitute, and prepare to attack us
unmolested? No sireee, Bob!! We rained death and
destruction on them wherever and whenever we could. And
countries that supported our enemies understood that we
would give them little mercy when their number came up.
Compare that to another great generation … the one
that had the privilege of fighting in Vietnam. Don’t
bomb here. Don’t go there. Bomb this bridge but not
that bridge. Bomb this month but don’t bomb next
month. Send Jane Fonda to entertain the enemy and then
welcome her back with something other than a tailor-made
noose. Don’t pursue the enemy retreating into
Cambodia; we wouldn’t want to admit to the public
that the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) had built an
elaborate infiltration route with way stations, munitions
dumps, and supply depots all designed to kill our troops
and win the war. Let’s not offend Cambodia’s
Prince Sihanouk by implying that he had a special deal
with the North Vietnamese. That wouldn’t be nice.
If you saw the movie or read the book, We Were Soldiers
Once … and Young, by Lt. General Harold Moore, you
have some inkling of the ferocious and courageous
fighting that took place in the Ia Drang Valley in late
1965. After the events at Landing Zone X-Ray, portrayed
in the movie based on this book, an equally vicious
battle took place only about two miles away at Landing
Zone Albany. U. S. forces killed over 3500 North
Vietnamese regulars in these two engagements, while
suffering about 300 of our soldiers or airmen killed in
action.
After these battles, Lt. Col. Moore wrote, “We knew
for a fact the three North Vietnamese regiments that we
had fought in the Ia Drang had withdrawn into Cambodia.
We wanted to follow them in hot pursuit, on the ground
and in the air, but could not do so under the rules of
engagement.”
General Kinnard (then Lt. Col. Moore’s superior
officer) said, “I always thought as an officer that
in a pursuit situation you continue to pursue until you
either kill the enemy or he surrenders. Not to follow
them into Cambodia violated every principle of warfare.
But the decision was made back there at the White House,
that we would not be permitted to pursue into Cambodia.
It became perfectly clear to the North Vietnamese that
they then had sanctuary; they could come when they were
ready to fight and leave when they were ready to quit.”
General Kinnard then added, “When General Giap says
he learned how to fight Americans and our helicopters at
the Ia Drang, that’s bullshit! What he learned was
that we were not going to be allowed to chase him across
a mythical line in the dirt. From that point on he was
grinning.”
Winning in Vietnam, as defined by the press and our
politicians, was based on the enemy surrendering and the
subsequent stop to the continuing stream of casualties
reported every night on the evening news.
Even with this as our goal, we allowed the NVA to have a
sheltered retreat to lick its wounds and then attack
again and kill more Americans. NVA troops could lose
every battle and yet, with these generous ground rules,
they were guaranteed to win the war. Except for Nixon’s
massive/desperation bombing of the North (finally!), we
would have never extricated ourselves.
Does this remind you of the Iraq War? The similarity is
not that both had an unjust cause as the liberal press
would have us believe. Quite the contrary: Stopping
communism and ending terrorism are both very worthy and
just endeavors.
The similarity is that our leaders have put our troops in
a straight jacket and the press keeps asking why we’re
getting our nose bloodied. Al Queda, Iran and Syria can
train terrorist fighters, assemble munitions (rifles,
ammunition, RPGs, IEDs, …) with impunity, send them
into Afghanistan and Iraq, and then start all over again.
In the meantime, we not only don’t crush these
activities, we permit Iran to sell oil on the world
market to help finance them! Is Usama bin Laden sitting
in Pakistan grinning? How about Ahmadinejad in Teheran or
Assad in Damascus?
Is it time to get out of Iraq? If we are going to stick
to these policies, let’s get out. After a few more
buildings in New York City are destroyed or the fans at a
Super Bowl are exterminated, maybe, just maybe, we’ll
get the courage to declare war and mean it!
Maybe it is time to start holding accountable the
politicians that start “wars” without actually
declaring them, are not serious about winning, and send
our brave young soldiers into battle with their hands
tied behind their backs.
Bush didn’t lie about weapons of mass destruction.
He lied about our “get tough policy” to go
after terrorists and destroy them. After 9/11 Bush said,
“Every nation, in every region, now has a decision
to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the
terrorists.” Well, if Iran and Syria are aiding the
terrorists, who-the-hell do we think they are with? If we’re
at war with the terrorists, why aren’t we at war
with Iran and Syria?
It is time to get in this fight for real or get out. Don’t
send our kids into battle with no intention of winning.
Don’t let them get maimed and then decide we didn’t
really mean it.
We owe a HUGE apology to our Korean and Vietnam veterans.
Committing this crime a third time is inexcusable.
Why? Because it is the third time. When will we learn?
And because, in the current war in Iraq, we don’t
have the possible justification for military timidity we
had in Korea and Vietnam. At least in the case of Korea
and Vietnam, an argument could be made that we couldn’t
risk nuclear annihilation and that we were just
containing communism, draining it economically, and
waiting for it to implode. If only we were so clever!
The current policy, to play nice in the Iraq War by
allowing sanctuaries for the terrorists and their
supporters, has no such justification. In fact, the
situation is precisely reversed. Iran, Syria and the
terrorists have no nuclear weapons now, but they will if
we keep pussyfooting around.
Instead of curtailing our battle strategy because we
could be nuked now, we are wasting time while Iranians,
Syrians and North Koreans are preparing their nuclear
capability so they will be able to nuke us later. Stupid
hardly covers it. Criminal and treasonous would be a
better characterization.
Do we value our freedoms enough to fight for them? Our
men and women in uniform do. Do the rest of us?
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The October 2007 Edition
of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
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All Contents (C) 2007, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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