Mario Loyola: Echoes of Korea
[Mario Loyola is a frequent contributor to NR.]
Sixty years ago today — at dawn on a quiet Sunday morning — the Korean War broke like a clap of thunder. After a short artillery barrage along the 38th parallel, more than 200,000 North Korean forces, under the command of Gen. Kim Il Sung, began pouring into the newly born Republic of Korea. There was no warning. South Korea’s tiny security forces were shattered instantly — and, just as quickly, President Truman decided to fight back. Almost overnight, America was at war.
For many of our veterans, the Korean War is still living memory. The anniversary of its beginning is an occasion to honor the sacrifices they and their fallen comrades made for liberty in that faraway land. But unfortunately, today there are more pressing reasons to remember that conflict.
Wednesday’s firing of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, is only the most obvious. The general is said to have exercised “poor judgment” in disparaging a variety of senior administration officials in candid interviews with Rolling Stone. Defenders were quick to point out that the general was not insubordinate, as was Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Korea: McChrystal never publicly criticized thepresident’s war strategy.
But that’s not the point. In Korea 60 years ago we had the same essential problem that we have in Afghanistan today: an inability to define attainable war aims that are rationally related to the interests at stake. When there is no consensus on war aims, there can be no consensus on strategy, and conflict within the senior leadership becomes inevitable. People generally agree on the things they understand, and generally disagree on the things they don’t understand. If history is any guide, the entire administration may well be trapped inside an irresolvable dilemma on Afghanistan — in which case, by definition, nobody has the answer....
Read entire article at National Review
Sixty years ago today — at dawn on a quiet Sunday morning — the Korean War broke like a clap of thunder. After a short artillery barrage along the 38th parallel, more than 200,000 North Korean forces, under the command of Gen. Kim Il Sung, began pouring into the newly born Republic of Korea. There was no warning. South Korea’s tiny security forces were shattered instantly — and, just as quickly, President Truman decided to fight back. Almost overnight, America was at war.
For many of our veterans, the Korean War is still living memory. The anniversary of its beginning is an occasion to honor the sacrifices they and their fallen comrades made for liberty in that faraway land. But unfortunately, today there are more pressing reasons to remember that conflict.
Wednesday’s firing of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, is only the most obvious. The general is said to have exercised “poor judgment” in disparaging a variety of senior administration officials in candid interviews with Rolling Stone. Defenders were quick to point out that the general was not insubordinate, as was Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Korea: McChrystal never publicly criticized thepresident’s war strategy.
But that’s not the point. In Korea 60 years ago we had the same essential problem that we have in Afghanistan today: an inability to define attainable war aims that are rationally related to the interests at stake. When there is no consensus on war aims, there can be no consensus on strategy, and conflict within the senior leadership becomes inevitable. People generally agree on the things they understand, and generally disagree on the things they don’t understand. If history is any guide, the entire administration may well be trapped inside an irresolvable dilemma on Afghanistan — in which case, by definition, nobody has the answer....