Vinegar Joe

by G. Murphy Donovan (November 2010)

“The fear of war is worse than war itself.” – Seneca
 

Saving Islam from Itself
Marshall assigned Stilwell to the China/Burma Theater.
Chennault (of the Flying Tigers), was that they tied down the core of the Japanese Imperial Army in China while Nimitz and MacArthur spilled guts and garnered glory in their Pacific island hopping campaigns.
died quietly in bed at the Presidio from cancer.
Surely, the Second World War produced more flamboyant generals, like McArthur and Patton, but Stilwell set a standard for competence and modesty.

Brig. Gen. Frank D. Merrill and Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell meet near Naubum, Burma
And this emphasis on appearances is not without penalty. Recall the sad tale of Admiral Boorda, the late Chief of US Naval Operations, who committed suicide after it was discovered that he had awarded himself a Vietnam combat ribbon that he had not earned.
recommended such an approach.
President Barack Obama and General David Petraeus

deals with the Taliban is rampant.
casualties worldwide was later repeated by Vice President Joe Biden on his trip to the Mid-East. The military and political logic here comes perilously close to a classic anti-Semitic argument.
Thus victory for NATO might look like Iraq and Afghanistan in the rear view mirror. Victory might even look like candor, an admission that the Islamist threat is not limited to South Asia or bin Laden and al Qaeda.
When the Soviets occupied Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia funded half the clandestine war against the Communists. Now that the threat comes from co-religionists, the Saudis have another standard.
The author is a Vietnam veteran and former Director of Intelligence with 25 years of military service. He also writes at Agnotology in Journalism and G. Murphy Donovan.

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