
 |
|
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
|
| |
Jewish World Review
August 26, 2009
/ 6 Elul 5769
Command Decision
By
Tony Blankley
| 
|
|
|
| |
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
On May 27, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson had telephone
conversations about Vietnam with McGeorge Bundy, his national security
adviser, and Sen. Richard Russell, chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
First, to Bundy, he said: "It just worries the hell out of me. I don't see
what we can ever hope to get out of there. … I don't think that we can
fight them 10,000 miles away from home and ever get anywhere. … I don't
think it's worth fighting for, and I don't think we can get out. It's just
the biggest damn mess I ever saw. … What the hell is Vietnam worth to me?
… What is it worth to this country?"
In a second, 20-minute conversation that day with his friend
Sen. Russell, he said: "I've got lots of trouble. What do you think about
this Vietnam thing?" Russell responded: "It's the damn worst mess I ever
saw. … I'd get out. … It isn't important a damn bit."
Late in the conversation, President Johnson worried: "The
Republicans are going to make a political issue out of it. … Nixon,
Rockefeller and Goldwater all (are) saying let's move (and) let's go into
the North. … They'd impeach a president … that would run out. Wouldn't
they?"
Johnson went on to speak of a sergeant who was a father of six.
He ''works for me over there at the house,'' Johnson told Sen. Russell. Then
Johnson said: ''Thinking about sending (him) in there … and what the hell
we're going to get out of his doing it? It just makes the chills run up my
back.'' LBJ concluded the conversation by saying, "I haven't the nerve to do
it, but I don't see any other way out of it." (To listen to those
heartbreaking taped conversations, go to http://www.hpol.org/lbj/vietnam.)
As of that spring day in 1964, a total of 201 Americans had been
killed in Vietnam since 1956, according to the official records. A few
months later, the Gulf of Tonkin resolution was passed by Congress, and the
great escalation of our troop levels started. By the time we finally lost
the war and brought our boys home, another 57,992 American troops were
killed.
Of course, in 1964, only the president knew he was taping his
phone conversations. Publicly, Johnson said that it was a war we had to
fight and win and that we would win it. Now, of course, we know that he
believed we couldn't win even before he sent the first of those 57,992
American boys over there to die. And that he did it because he didn't have,
in his words, "the nerve" to follow his best judgment because he wouldn't
risk his own political danger, perhaps impeachment.
As painful as it is to consider the consequences of Johnson's
decisions, he was, for all his faults, no monster. And even the finest,
ethical leaders often find the pressures of politics powerfully encroaching
on their best policy judgments. (For example, in order to win, Franklin
Roosevelt ran publicly on a peace ticket in 1940, though he privately
believed American interests required us to get into World War II.)
Today President Barack Obama is on the cusp of a fateful policy
decision. He has argued consistently that the war in Afghanistan is
necessary to deny al-Qaida a base of terrorist operations and to stop the
Taliban insurrection from destabilizing nuclear Pakistan. But serious doubts
are being raised by many policy experts and an emerging majority of the
American and British publics as to whether we have a strategy and the
materiel to succeed. Even the optimists believe that a successful
counterinsurgency in Afghanistan (and needed as much in Pakistan) will
require several years of sustained commitment, with substantially more men
and materiel and a shrewder strategy (probably requiring modern nation
building of a traditional tribal society).
To have a reasonable chance at success, President Obama will
have to sustain the effort for years, which will require him to be at least
as determined and stubborn on behalf of this war as former President George
W. Bush was in fighting the Iraq war whatever one thought of Bush's
policy wisdom. It may be a lonely struggle at times for the president
because his strongest supporters (the Democratic Party, particularly its
progressive/liberal wing) are not by philosophy or recent history natural
supporters of military action; their support will be based largely on party
instincts. The war's natural supporters the hawkish right and center of
the Republican Party inevitably will have at least their enthusiasm
ameliorated by their party instincts.
Thus, President Obama has a hard decision to make. Because
things are going worse than expected in Afghanistan, it will take longer and
require more sacrifice of American blood and treasure to succeed (if we can
succeed even then) than was believed to be the case last year. Moreover,
political support for the president is likely to be uneven at best.
So in this already politically difficult summer of 2009,
President Obama must bring a higher level of intellectual integrity and
moral courage to his go/no-go war decision than Lyndon Johnson was capable
of 45 years ago. Notwithstanding his prior and current commitment to
prosecute the war in Afghanistan and notwithstanding the ambiguous
political effect of his decision he owes it to both himself and the many
young service members who soon may be shipping out to make a new, cold
calculation of whether he believes that he has a reasonable chance of
successfully leading us in this new stage of the war. I don't envy him his
job at the moment.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Archives
Tony Blankley is executive vice president of Edelman public relations in Washington. Comment by clicking here.
© 2009, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Tony Blankley
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Alan Douglas
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
Marybeth Hicks
David Horowitz
Jeff Jacoby
Renee James
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Ben Wattenberg
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

Mr. Know-It-All
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
Tech Maven
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|