Re: VIRTUAL JFK: Vietnam Had Kennedy Lived

Gerry Simone wrote:
> <billclarke@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message=20
> news:094843cf-0bfe-424a-8ddf-8efd45582651@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Apr 28, 7:32 pm, "Gerry Simone" <newdecent...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> "pin head" <longiislandh...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>>> this is an almost stupid question.....of course it matters.....and wh=
at
>>> has history shown us ? to walk the middle is the path to sure
>>> disaster......THE ONLY "successful" wars this country has ever fought=
=20
>>> are
>>> the ones in which Overwhelming power was NOT held in reserve......The
>>> nature of the American Militray is to emplore a quick and overwhelmin=
g=20
>>> win
>>> via it's 1st rate technology and fire power.
>> Are you saying that VN could've been won had overwhelming power been u=
sed?
>=20
> I don=92t know what Pinhead thinks but I think if we couldn=92t do it w=
ith
> half a million U.S. troops more troops wasn=92t the answer, although
> noting that the foolish restrictions placed on our combat units didn=92=
t
> help matters.
>=20
> Yes, those restrictions didn't help.
>=20
>> I'm Canadian so I'm not an expert on VN but wasn't it a guerilla war?
>=20
> It was a guerilla war with a dose of politics thrown in.  The communist=
=20
> called this =93revolutionary war=94.  You don=92t fight it with overwhe=
lming=20
> power; you fight it by winning the hearts and minds so to speak.  You d=
o=20
> this my giving them a stable and popular government, securing the villa=
ges=20
> so the VC can=92t come in at night and assassinate the chief, giving th=
em=20
> medical care, land reform and so on. Overpowering force gets in the way=
 of=20
> this.  Westmoreland squandered the early years with his large unit sear=
ch=20
> and destroy missions, Abrams made great progress after he got the comma=
nd=20
> but it was much too late by then.
>=20

Unfortunately that is NOT how much revolutions are foiled. Usually they 
are put down by brutal repression.

> Did we learn anything from these lessons?
>=20

We never do.

>> How do you fight that with overwhelming power?
>=20
> Sooner or later the guerilla has to come out of the mountains and take =
the=20
> capital.  This is where overwhelming power comes into play. Examples ar=
e=20
> TET 68, the 1972 Easter Offensive that the SVN won with our advisors an=
d=20
> air sup****t and again in 1975 when the communist had overwhelming force=
..
>=20
> Bill Clarke
>=20