There is nothing correct about the above Korean War comment, other than the Inchon invasion – a pure hunch on Mac’s part, and opposed by EVERYBODY else, but it worked brilliantly. Other than that, Mac was a pure disaster, at least to the many writers I have read, inc. “The Coldest Winter” is the best one-volume history of the war out there. I think this is a telling thing: Mac never spent a night in Korea during his responsibility for the war, not even during Inchon. Later he split up the conduct of the war into two commands, one on the east going north, one on the west going north, and never the twain knew what the eff the other was doing. I am not a military historian, nor do I play one on TV or in my fantasies, but the ones I’ve read said that breaking the command into two is one of the worst mistakes a commander can make. The stuff about the UN is pure right-wing ideological twaddle. The Soviets hoodwinked us into running both sides of the war? That I not laugh. Actually, “we” hoodwinked them by approving UN intervention when the Soviets were not in attendance because they were off sulking over I forget what now. Truman fired Mac, and rightly, for being an arrogant, preening, insubordinate SOB who thought he should be president, if not God, and who wanted to take nuclear war into China. If those were not Truman’s exact words, that was his attitude, though officially he said he relieved MacArthur of his command because he was unable to give his wholehearted support to the policies of the US and UN, or words to that effect. Nevertheless, despite Mac’s blundering, the war was effectively over by October of 1950 and we had effectively won – by we I mean the US and UN, for this really was a UN war (though the US provided most of the men, materiel, and blood and guts). The North Koreans could no longer carry on; they had been driven up into their northern fastnesses. We should have stopped there and declared victory, for it was a real one. The historian Bevan Alexander in his “The First War We Lost” said that there were two wars in Korea – that one, which we won, and the war after November 1950 that Mac insisted on prosecuting out of pure megalomania, which we lost. It was totally unnecessary. The Chinese did not care especially that we had whipped the North Koreans. Their fear was that they suspected that the US wanted to carry the war into China. Mac actively fanned their fear. By insisting on wanting to go up to (and beyond) the Yalu River, Mac forced the Chinese Communists to do something that they preferred not to do – and spoiled a solid victory and unnecessarily prolonged the war for 2 1/2 more years. If the Chinese, then a relatively weak country, had been interested in taking over all of Korea, they would have given North Korea more support right from the beginning, but they could not afford to. They reacted when they thought THEY were being targeted. As for the Nationalist Chinese, they were never in position to “take over” mainland China, else they would not be where they were, on Taiwan.
But Roland should be perfect for ANY show-biz job, including teevee “news.” He has two essential qualifications: He never ages and he’s as thick as two planks.
Jim S. is himself of the era that knew and used “church keys.” He surely must also be aware that they have not been in general use for nearly four decades. Apparently he could not let that knowledge get in the way of a good line.
If waterboarding is not torture, why do police departments in the United States not use it on ordinary, run-of-the-mill thugs and murderers to obtain information? If waterboarding is not torture, why does John McCain, who was tortured, say that it is? If waterboarding is not torture, why do U.S. Army regulations forbid it as being torture? If waterboarding is not torture, would you mind if it was practiced on you? If waterboarding is not torture, would it be all right if other countries practiced it on American citizens? If “You Don’t Know Dick” Cheney is so passionate about protecting the United States, why did he repeatedly decline opportunities to do so when a war was handy during his youth? But that’s another question.
There is nothing correct about the above Korean War comment, other than the Inchon invasion – a pure hunch on Mac’s part, and opposed by EVERYBODY else, but it worked brilliantly. Other than that, Mac was a pure disaster, at least to the many writers I have read, inc. “The Coldest Winter” is the best one-volume history of the war out there. I think this is a telling thing: Mac never spent a night in Korea during his responsibility for the war, not even during Inchon. Later he split up the conduct of the war into two commands, one on the east going north, one on the west going north, and never the twain knew what the eff the other was doing. I am not a military historian, nor do I play one on TV or in my fantasies, but the ones I’ve read said that breaking the command into two is one of the worst mistakes a commander can make. The stuff about the UN is pure right-wing ideological twaddle. The Soviets hoodwinked us into running both sides of the war? That I not laugh. Actually, “we” hoodwinked them by approving UN intervention when the Soviets were not in attendance because they were off sulking over I forget what now. Truman fired Mac, and rightly, for being an arrogant, preening, insubordinate SOB who thought he should be president, if not God, and who wanted to take nuclear war into China. If those were not Truman’s exact words, that was his attitude, though officially he said he relieved MacArthur of his command because he was unable to give his wholehearted support to the policies of the US and UN, or words to that effect. Nevertheless, despite Mac’s blundering, the war was effectively over by October of 1950 and we had effectively won – by we I mean the US and UN, for this really was a UN war (though the US provided most of the men, materiel, and blood and guts). The North Koreans could no longer carry on; they had been driven up into their northern fastnesses. We should have stopped there and declared victory, for it was a real one. The historian Bevan Alexander in his “The First War We Lost” said that there were two wars in Korea – that one, which we won, and the war after November 1950 that Mac insisted on prosecuting out of pure megalomania, which we lost. It was totally unnecessary. The Chinese did not care especially that we had whipped the North Koreans. Their fear was that they suspected that the US wanted to carry the war into China. Mac actively fanned their fear. By insisting on wanting to go up to (and beyond) the Yalu River, Mac forced the Chinese Communists to do something that they preferred not to do – and spoiled a solid victory and unnecessarily prolonged the war for 2 1/2 more years. If the Chinese, then a relatively weak country, had been interested in taking over all of Korea, they would have given North Korea more support right from the beginning, but they could not afford to. They reacted when they thought THEY were being targeted. As for the Nationalist Chinese, they were never in position to “take over” mainland China, else they would not be where they were, on Taiwan.