[lit-ideas] Re: The Iran Charade

  • From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 23:25:52 -0500

WWII was a defensive war.  Expecting WWII level support for an offensive
war is a set up for disappointment.  




> [Original Message]
> From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 1/19/2006 6:53:42 PM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: The Iran Charade
>
> Judy: and it is true that public opinion's turning 
> against
> the Vietnam War was crucial. But military defeat and
> the ending of war (and of course they are not
> identical) are not to be attributed to that alone.
>
> Eric: In the case of Vietnam, we had no real 
> military defeat, but under pressure from massive 
> public distaste for it, we withdrew. And South 
> Vietnam held its borders in the conflict until we 
> withdrew funding later, again in response to 
> public distaste, and the North Vietnamese (Soviet) 
> tanks came rolling in.
>
> But rather than get sidetracked by historical 
> revisionism of  Vietnam, think of WW2 versus Iraq. 
> Although public opinion was solidly against entry 
> into WW2, opinion changed as we went into it.  The 
> Marines sometimes lost more troops in a day than 
> we have lost in the entire Iraq conflict, 
> including civilian and mercenary casualties, and 
> yet we kept on plugging through the Pacific.
>
> If we had the WW2 level of public support for the 
> Iraq invasion, no one would doubt that we were 
> winning, having suffered only a few thousand 
> casualties. So given the limits of military power, 
> I think national morale (in a liberal democracy) 
> is key.
>
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