Friday, September 24, 2004

Iraq is Not Vietnam, It's Guadalcanal

Fantastic piece Lieutenant Colonel Powl Smith about why the correct historical parallel for Iraq isn't Vietnam, but Guadalcanal.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amusing seeing that Lieutnant Colonel criticizing others for comparing Iraq to Vietnam, and at the same time comparing jungle conventional warfare (the japanese might have been ruthless, they were still an army) on a foreign island, and urban guerilla warfare with local insurgencies. Why did then the US drop two atomic bombs on Japan? (Hint: Guadalcanal would have looked like a walk in the park)
Past the second paragraph, the article is worthless (except if the US gov is planning to nuke some Iraqi city, of course).
Never mind the conclusion:
"Totalitarian enemies have to be bludgeoned into submission, and the populations that support them have to be convinced they can't win."
That is the typical warfare of a totalitarian regime. Crushing the enemy into submission. Ain't totalitarism submission anyway?

6:51 PM
Anonymous said...

The posting previously that somehow the U.S. role in world war two was a totalitarian regime action is a staggering statement. Are you comparing the conduct of America to that of the totalitarian regimes in the Reich and Imperial Japan? I wasn't aware anyone could be that ignorant. Don't confuse the necessity to beat Imperial Japan into submission with the brutal and oppressive ideals they held that lead to that crisis. Last time I checked, the Japanese, Germans, and every country they had occupied were free, sovereign countries; who are free to disagree with our views of the world (re: German foreign policy). The results of a totalitarian world view? I think not. Stop being ashamed of being an American.

2:08 PM

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