Andrew Bacevich has a striking memory piece on the Vietnam Era Tonkin Gulf Resolution, 50 years later: the do something group-think in Washington behind its passage and the group-think response by the press leading to the Vientam nightmare we all now remember. It was, in retrospect a pathetic performance. And heres Bacevichs conclusion from it for the present. Tom It takes gumption to question truths that everyone “knows” to be true. In the summer of 1964, gumption was in short supply. As a direct consequence, 58,000 Americans died, along with a vastly larger number of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. After 9/11, similar mistakes — deference to the official line and to the conventional wisdom (“terrorism” standing in for communism) — recurred, this time with even less justification. The misbegotten Iraq war was one result. Yet even today, events in Syria, Ukraine, and elsewhere elicit an urge to do something, accompanied by the conviction that unless troops are moving or bombs dropping the United States is somehow evading its assigned responsibilities. The question must be asked: Are Americans incapable of learning? bostonglobe/opinion/2014/08/03/something-groupthink-took-fateful-toll/5HalPdN7wiDrUWJjaDRRUN/story.html
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 19:00:02 +0000
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