On 12/5/06, Srini RamaKrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Apropos of nothing except the trigger words, I've been wondering what
exactly it is that makes a technologically advanced army like the US
Army falter when faced with a rabble of guerrillas and insurgents.
I believe the missing element is human courage.
Hmmm. I do not know if the missing ingredient is courage. In the case
of Vietnam, the NVA and the VC were fighting, literally in some cases,
in their back yards. The US's conscript army was fighting an
unconventional war half-way around the world in an alien terrain.
Language barriers, low morale and the blatant corruption of the allies
(South Vietnamese and Cambodian regulars combined with S. Korean and
Thai mercenaries ) were additional reasons for the defeat. A
conventional army is good with capturing territories and fighting in a
close-ended conflict. They are not good with maintaining an arbitrary
border / peace (cf. Vietnam), preventing a civil war (cf. Ireland,
Iraq) or policing (cf. Kashmir. Cue: Shiv).
And you forget one very important point with Vietnam - the fundamental
amorality of the US involvement in the conflict. A significant portion
of the soldiers fighting in Vietnam were doing so for economic reasons
or reasons of ill luck (i.e. unable to dodge the draft). A lot of them
thought that they were fighting an unjust war to keep profiteers and
corrupt politicians in power.
Thaths
--
Homer: He has all the money in the world, but there's one thing he can't buy.
Marge: What's that?
Homer: (pause) A dinosaur.
-- Homer J. Simpson
Sudhakar Chandra Slacker Without Borders
