RE: Ike on war...
November 2, 2019 at 12:56 pm
(This post was last modified: November 2, 2019 at 1:37 pm by Anomalocaris.)
(November 1, 2019 at 5:30 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: 'God created war so that Americans would learn geography.' - Mark Twain
Boru
Muricans has been at war for but a small handful of years since 1945, and yet starting from having no geographic knowledge whatsoever, our level of geographic knowledge have managed to decrease.
I spoke to one person who said we should build wall on our border with China too to stop them shipping in so much stuff and putting muricans out of work. Back in 1945 those like him would have known boats were involving in getting from China to here.
(November 1, 2019 at 8:29 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:(November 1, 2019 at 8:23 am)Brian37 Wrote: Sorry but between Ike and Dick Cheney, I'll take Ike over a fucking dick every day of the week.
Why bring up Dick Cheney? That's a stupid comparison to make.
You'll take Ike? You can have him. He was a political general - all front, stupid, dependent on his staff.
Boru
Eisenhower was by no means a mere political general, although politics was a much larger part of role than were the case with most theater commanders. Operationally he overruled subordinates on both British and American sides frequently and at will to enforce a cautious, methodical, act-only-at-the-last-minute-so-as-to-have-all-options-first-reveal-themselves approach to the land champaign in the west that was and remains out of favor in popular conception of generalship after the German blitzkrieg.
Like jellicoe at Jutland Einsenhower’s mandate was to avoid snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, not to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. So he did his core part of job solidly and competently, undistracted by any temporarily potential for glory if he added dash and style that contributed nothing to the attainment of his only important objectives.
(November 1, 2019 at 9:01 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: And why would a man who claimed to hate war spend almost his entire adult life as a soldier?
Because “do what you love” was not generally considered the best way to conduct one’s life until the last 3-4 decades. Previously it was generally thought a good life is one in which one molds one self to do what needs doing, not one where one chooses what one does according to what one likes.
