Johnson...McNamara...Obama: the Convergence

Throughout history; nations, city states, and tribes which chose to fight a conflict by use of a defensive strategy (versus defensive tactics, which are used commonly) inevitably failed in their endeavor and often ceased to exist.

Only rarely has the US elected to try and break the historical deadlock. After early setbacks with the Continental Army, some members of the new Congress urged Washington to take a strictly defensive posture, pulling the army into the wilderness and spending what might have been decades waiting for the British to uproot him.

Washington was far too wise to consider this option, instead he learned from earlier tactical mistakes and doggedly built an army which could go head-to-head against British regulars. He understood far too well the historical precedent...the Brits would simply grow stronger while drying up Washington's base of supply, while his force would lose public support and personnel; eventually becoming little more than a band of renegades.

In the Korean conflict, US forces, after great initial successes and the near collapse of North Korea, were forced into a bloody stalemated war of attrition. Afraid to further provoke the Chinese or the Soviets, the US used enough force to hold the line, but not to bring abut decisive victory. That conflict has never been resolved and still destabilizes the region.

In the Vietnam war, the US administration in the persons of Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara made a decision to fight a protracted war of defense as a test of will against the Soviet Union's proxy state, North Vietnam. McNamara was a firm adherent of what is called War Management Theory. Most military professionals adhere to War Fighting Theory...the two are very different schools of thought.

I recall an analysis of the war that included two photos side-by-side. The first was a famous photo of President Lincoln during the Civil War. In the photo, Lincoln is seated at the rear of the room, his tophat on his lap, listening intently as his generals work over a large table covered with maps. He was the observer...doing the people's business by monitoring the experts in warfighting and being there to make final decisions based on their recommendations.

The other photo was of Johnson and McNamara with the chiefs of staff...the top generals in all the armed forces of the nation. In this photo, Johnson and McNamara were leaning over a large map table while the generals sat disgusted and ignored in the background. They had learned not to speak up, as one of the two politicians would normally fly into a rage and ignore what advice the officer wished to convey.

These men's egoes were more important to them than the lives of the men and women serving on the battlefields. Johnson often remarked that generals could not be trusted in issues of war and that he was smarter than the lot of them. McNamara was known to share those feelings...but in his own regard.

Lincoln was by far the more intelligent man. He was wise enough to know his limitations, and though he got testy with his generals from time to time, and replaced those who failed to produce, he bowed to their judgement on matters not political in nature.

Not only was Johnson very different than Lincoln, conceited and bull headed, but he disliked military people and he had bigger fish to fry. He was pushing his Great Society agenda to congress and the people and felt the war would simply get in the way. So McNamara's war management theories seemed to fit his needs at the moment.

Those theories called for a defensive strategy; whereby the goal was not to win the conflict, but to keep from losing. In other words, apply enough force to keep the Communists from completely overrunning the struggling democrary in the south, but not enough to dissuade them from trying. The key, McNamara assured Johnson, was that the Communists would get the hint and give up the idea of conquest after a few years.

This would also signal the Soviets that we were willing to slug it out in Europe as well if that became necessary. It actually convinced the Soviets of very different things of course, but that's another story.

McNamara's theories called for building an innaccessible wall of protection around the south...which to anyone who can read a map seemed like one of the most ludicrous ideas in history...one that the Communists would be unable to efficiently cross. This worked so badly, of course, that Johnson finally bowed to a minimal amount of "active defense" in the form of going after military production in the north through use of airpower.

It went no further than that however. Military leaders were already stretching the limit of McNamara's vision, and the war was getting way too much publicity for Johnson's taste. His big social agenda was going down the tubes thanks to anger over his handling of the war.

Of course we're all aware of how that conflict ended, and of the sacrifices made not only by US personnel but South Vietnamese troops by the millions as well as allied forces from all over the Pacific. Their courage could not save a democracy condemned to extermination by fools in Washington D.C.

Now there is a new photo being passed around. President Obama, VP Biden, and a dozen other civilians sitting around a large table procrastinating over how to proceed in Afghanistan. The media refers to this group as his "war council."

Note that the chiefs of staff are now completely missing; as are the generals on the ground who have been pushing for a decision for half a year. To make matters worse, the professionals in-country have delivered four carefully prepared strategic plans to carry on and eventually win the war...and all have now been rejected by the "war council."

Does Obama want the generals to revise their plans and come back? No...he has announced his council will write his strategic plan for the war.

Now...we'll take a moment to allow you to slam your fist through a wall...or simply sit in front of your computer in stunned silence. Some of you may want to beat your head against your desk or cry...it's up to you...all four might be called for at this point.

Try to look at the bright side...Obama and his people have finally, irrefutably, proven their egomania, their narcissim, and their lack of intelligence beyond any question. No one with the slightest semblance of sense could disagree this may be the most incredibly stupid single decision these people have made to date. Now there can be no doubt of their incompetence.

But there are other issues in play: recall Obama's speech on TV when he broke into regular programming to announce the mass shootings at Fort Hood. For two minutes he spoke about social issues, then inserted some lines about the murders on the base, then finished up with more social issues.

What does this short interlude tell us? One...like Johnson, he has a social agenda that overrides the lives of our men and women who serve in the military. This social agenda is so important that it will eclipse our national security and cut the very foundations of support for our troops before this administration is finished. They have a messianic need to complete this agenda despite what it does to our nation and our people.

We see the results of that agenda being played out in the dithering over strategy in Afghanistan. The war council is not concerned with winning...they are concerned with image and getting out if necessary to save their social plan. If this wasn't true, the President would have simply chosen one of the four options and told our generals to "make it so."

Two...like most failed leaders throughout history...Obama won't learn from history. He wants to take the reins of a general, but doesn't have any interest in knowing anything about the art, history, and science of leading men in battle. Like wanting to run giant corporations, running a war is simply beyond his grasp in the slightest degree...but that doesn't prevent an extreme narcissist from truly believing he will be successful.

Now one might suggest that I'm offbase...that Obama will simply reword one of the Generals' plans in order to take credit for it. That's unlikely...it's the move a publicity hungry, but dogmatic, politician might make. I believe Obama is such a narcissist that he truly believes he and his friends are able to come up with superior plans. This despite their total lack of training, knowledge, or experience in these complex matters...similar to their approach to the world of business.

Whatever move they now make, this administration has set the framework for failure and it will be difficult to break out of that model. Liberals will always find some consolation in such failure...the media can always label it success of course...and if that fails they can still go back to blaming Bush. The long arm of George Bush reaches out constantly, you know,...and it is the one strategy they can use with some level of actual understanding of what they're doing.

The Professor