Those who try to understand military policy often confuse themselves by focusing
on minor matters such as strategy, tactics, logistics, and armament. Here they
err. For years the central goal of the military, the brass ring, has been independence
from control by civilians. It has been achieved.
In time of war, the first concern of the command is to limit the flow of information
to their publics. The actions of the enemy are an important but secondary consideration.
Thus militaries strive to prevent the dissemination of photos of mutilated soldiers
or, as in Washington today, of governmentally tortured prisoners. In the United
States, which characteristically fights wars unrelated to the safety of the
country, the Pentagon must also keep soldiers from being told that they are
being sacrifice for the benefit of arms manufacturers and imperialist ambitions.
In wars before Vietnam, this was adroitly effected. You could go to jail for
criticizing a war.
In Vietnam, something new happened. The press covered the war freely. Reporters
went where they pleased, beyond the control of the military. Their publications
ran the results. National magazines printed horrific photographs of what was
really happening.
Truth tells. The coverage was one of the two factors that forced Washington
to quit the war. The other was the passionate unwillingness of young men to
be forced to fight a war in which they had no interest. The war, a source of
meaning for Washington’s thunderous hawks and fern-bar Napoleons, was getting
them killed.
The military of Vietnam wasn’t very good at fighting, and neither is the
military of today. GIs in Asia would assault a hill, usually of no importance,
and, after three days, with the aid of helicopters, helo gunships, napalm, artillery,
and fighter-bombers, would capture it. This would be called a triumph. The astute
observed that if the Americans had to fight on equal terms, without overwhelming
material superiority, they would last perhaps ten minutes. This is now a recognized
pattern. Note that numerically superior and hugely armed American forces have
been outfought for years by lightly armed Afghan goat herds. Since neither the
wars nor the soldiers in them are of much importance, this doesn’t matter.