Is There Any War McCain Thinks Can't Be Won?

The Atlantic:

In April of 1969, the commander in chief of American forces in the Pacific, Admiral John S. McCain Jr., sent a cable to General Earle Wheeler, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and to General Creighton Abrams, the commander of American forces in Vietnam, with a pressing message. It is past time, Admiral McCain advised, for American units in Vietnam to overhaul their mission: the goal of the military effort in Vietnam should be to protect Vietnamese civilians from Communist insurgents, he wrote, rather than merely to hunt guerrillas in the countryside and then withdraw to the safety of permanent bases.

"The war has had from the outset major political as well as military overtones," Admiral McCain wrote. "All agencies recognize that this is the time to put emphasis on protection of population and special enhancement of civilian security." The South Vietnamese should do the main work of protecting civilians, McCain argued. The "national police should be the spearhead of this effort, and steps should be taken to attain the 120,000-man" South Vietnamese force by the following year.

Read the whole story: The Atlantic

Comments

[SamEllison]

Please post my comments

[katlade]

The fact that John McCain was a POW does not make him qualified to be president and make decisions regarding wars. It makes him an American hero, but we have many heros and many more to come as long as we keep the troops in Iraq.

[spinns17]

http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=S0061103 mc cains voting record

[SamEllison]

The Vietnam War is over.
We need to realize that.
Tet, though a military victory for the US, showed the American people that our government was lying to us.
This article does not mention "The Pentagon Papers".
I don't know how you can explain our involvement in Vietnam without them.
They showed we had no plan for victory.
Like now, no plan for winning.
Does this sound familiar?

[zull2]

The short answer is yes, McCain probably knows there are wars the US can't win. Like occupations, for example. But Republicans don't work that way. They count on the stupid vote...the people who don't think for themselves and vote for the candidate that tells them best what they want to hear, not the bear truth. These are people that want a candidate that tells them that "they tell the truth" so they don't have to verify it. They're people who want to be told that the US is "awesome" and "unstoppable" and the "economy is great" so they don't have to worry about it. Republicans don't think. They don't look at the facts, because if they do, they start voting Democratic or third party. They just do what they're told and go along with it because it makes them feel good.

[YunekFlava]

“We may be about to lose the second war in my lifetime,"
- John McCain

And this was quoted from article!

Obviously, McCain needs a victory at any cost.

A portion of this nation feels we lost the Vietnam War dishonorably. I have uncles that are Nam vets and I am old enough to remember the numerous protests over our involvement.

Have you noticed how it has become so important to him that everyone acknowledges how successful the "surge" is? It's because he wants the honor of winning a war. Some members of the MSM and the public look at him as a hero, because he was in the military, and imprisoned. In his "military family world", he was not a hero because he wrecked 4 planes, and was captured.

He is trying to redeem himself, and this is why he embraced the MSM as his "base". What does a base do? It holds you up, it supports you, it is a central part of your foundation, and it lavishes praise. Along comes the "young" MSM and they began to question his "straight talk", and actually expose him and the "old" MSM. Mccain is now showing what the MSM has been trying to hide for more than 20 years.

Mccain can no longer hide behind "Country First", when it’s really about the "Redemption of John Mccain". Not at my children’s expense.

[cbates]

I think the American public has to seriously think about its future and the need for military resolution of conflicts. If we are to be tied to the world economically then how in God's creations (yes I said it) can we fight or resolve conflicts by war? McMock is out of touch with the American society and as well the world society. Please remember this is not 1950.

[AbigailPosts]

Please. Can somebody please tell me what "victory" means? Is it the hearts and flowers they thought we'd get when we invaded in the first place. A simple question in a debate is "Define victory in Eye-raq".

[SamEllison]

By April 69 Vietnam had become Kissinger's war.
It was used to get Nixon re-elected, having just taken office the January before.
Death, killing, useless murder is what Republicanism was about then as now.
They love the troops, to death!

[JPHR]

Yes this election and he will only succeed in losing dishonorably too.

[Whinger]

I don't know why he would think that, he's a major big time runner up!

[arvay]

Vietnam is actually a great teacher. But the lessons aren't McCain's.

We went in to stop Communism, defend freedom, un-topple a domino, make the world safe for democracy.

After losing 58,000 soldiers and killing untold Vietnamese, we lost. Was the war "win-able?' " Well, the US had the physical power to obliterate North Vietnam and send a million soldiers to occupy the place. That would have effectively tied US military power down for quite a while, (sound familiar?)and might have triggered a Chinese response.(­remember Korea?) Would we have produced a South Korean-type economic tiger? hard to say.

So what happened ultimately?

Communism failed in Vietnam, just as it failed in the USSR, China, Cuba, etc. Now they have a stock market and their people are being hired by corporate outsourcers.

So what did all those people die for?

Stay tuned, as we withdraw from Iraq and it becomes an Iranian ally.

Somewhere the gods are laughing.

[HoldenLitgo]

McCain = more war.

Stop the madness, end the killing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJUCU1UH2w

[loax]

He does if he is President. He won't care how many wars he puts us in. This man suffers from PTS syndrome, and is not fit to be President!

[filo]

Once, just once I would like to see McCain define what victory is. He never has and he never will.

[ibsteve2u]

"Victory" will come the day that PNAC (or whatever it is called now) tells McCain that is has arrived.