TET REDUX

"THE EXPEDITION TO ‘X’ WAS NOT SO MUCH A MISTAKE IN JUDGEMENT, CONSIDERING THE ENEMY THEY WENT AGAINST, AS MUCH AS A CASE OF MISMANAGEMENT ON THE PART OF THE PLANNERS, WHO DID NOT AFTERWARDS TAKE THE NECESSARY MEASURE TO SUPPORT THOSE FIRST TROOPS THEY SENT OUT. INSTEAD, THEY TURNED TO PERSONAL RIVALRIES OVER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE PEOPLE, AND CONSEQUENTLY NOT ONLY CONDUCTED THE WAR IN THE FIELD HALF-HEARTEDLY, BUT ALSO BROUGHT CIVIL DISCORD FOR THE FIRST TIME TO THE HOME FRONT... AND YET, THEY DID NOT FAIL UNTIL THEY AT LAST TURNED ON EACH OTHER AND FELL INTO PRIVATE QUARREL THAT BROUGHT THEIR RUIN."

SICILY? VIET NAM? IRAQ? TAKE YOUR PICK. THUCYDIDES, THE 5TH CENTURY B.C. GREEK HISTORIAN SAID IT FIRST AND BEST. THE STUFF OF WESTERN WARFARE - SHOCK BATTLE, DIRECT ASSAULT, OVERWHELMING FIREPOWER AND SEIZING AND HOLDING PROPERTY - ONLY LACKED THE FINAL INGREDIENT WHEN WE FOUGHT IN VIEW NAM. THE VERDICT IS STILL OUT IN IRAQ. THE AMERICAN MILITARY IS KNOWN FOR ITS COURAGE INEXTRICABLY TIED TO DISCIPLINE (AS WITH THE TORPEDO BOMBERS AT THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY OF WHICH ONLY 13 OF 87 SURVIVED). THE AMERICAN WARRIOR POSSESSES A SPIRIT OF CIVIL MILITARISM WHICH MEANS THAT A CITIZEN POSSESSED OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS HE WILL ‘FIGHT LIKE HELL’ TO PRESERVE THEM. BUT THE LACK OF WILL THAT THUCYDIDES SAW IN THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR, CAUSED OUR PULLOUT IN VIEW NAM; THE VERDICT IS STILL OUT IN IRAQ.

ANCIENT WARFARE WAGED FOR BOOTY, WOMEN OR PRESTIGE HAS OUTLIVED ITS USEFULNESS IN THE WEST AND IN AMERICA, BUT NOT AROUND THE GLOBE. FOR THIS REASON ALONE, AMERICA SHOULD BE PROUD. BEFORE THUCYDIDES, PROTAGORUS OBSERVED THAT "MAN IS THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS." THESE THINGS MAY REFLECT EVIL SUCH AS THE GENOCIDES OF THE ZULU, SHAKA, OR THE GERMAN, HITLER. THESE THINGS MAY REFLECT GOOD, SUCH AS THE GENERAL ANNIHILATION OF THE ENEMY BY THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR II BUT AMERICA CANNOT TAKE PRIDE IN FORGETTING THE LESSONS OF WARS PAST, ESPECIALLY VIET NAM. THE AMERICAN MILITARY WON THE TET OFFENSIVE BUT LOST THE WAR.