Comments on: Morning Swim: 2009, Day 1

By: selise

selise — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:49:54 +0000

LOL! it’s a dangerous addiction. but not as dangerous as many others….

thanks for the links.

By: SouthernDragon

SouthernDragon — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:39:12 +0000

Yeah, me too.

By: SouthernDragon

SouthernDragon — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:38:12 +0000

This section from the nexus site shows My Tho. Dong Tam, home of the Mobile Riverine Force is about 4 mile west of My Tho. Dong Tam was dredged out of the rice paddies and does not appear on the map. I still have copies of the chart books we used to navigate throughout the Delta.

By: gretemike

gretemike — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:29:56 +0000

I don’t believe your assertion that “you can’t bomb a nationalist movement into submission” is supported by fact. The extensive bombing of Japan and Germany left those populations without any will to resist (which was particularly remarkable in the case of Japan). Bombing alone caused the Serbs to come to heel in Kosovo.

And regarding your comments about Vietnam - there is a good book that in part, citing primary North Vietnamese sources, states that the American bombing of Vietnam very nearly won that war for the Americans, but that the premature American cease fire allowed the North Vietnamese to grasp victory out of the jaws of defeat. If you look at the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan, the Soviets very nearly won that war but for America’s insertion of high-tech anti-aircraft weaponry into the mix.

In my opinion, disproportionate use of military force is the only proven method to win a war. The fact that so many recent wars fought by major powers have not resulted in clear wins is a function of the fact that so many punches have been pulled, so to speak. You especially see this with past Israeli military actions. The fact that international law forbids the disproportionate use of military force speaks more to the growing irrelevancy of international law than anything else.

War is a cruel, horrible business. However, there is no doubt in my mind that war is sometimes justified. It would be a horrible thing to allow a defeat in a justified war due solely to lack of political will.

I’ll try finding the exact quote I have in mind in that book, but not today - I just got off work.

By: selise

selise — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:26:20 +0000

yikes! like crack to a map geek. i better bookmark for later.

By: twolf1

twolf1 — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:26:15 +0000

New post waaaaay upstairs…

By: SouthernDragon

SouthernDragon — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:23:01 +0000

Here are some sites for maps of the great adventure.

http://www.rjsmith.com/topo_map.html

http://www.nexus.net/~911gfx/sea-ao.html

One could spend days on the nexus site.

By: selise

selise — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:07:56 +0000

thanks, that sounds like a great read. amazon has both the used hardcover and paperback listed for sale. since it says there are pictures and maps, i’m going to go with the hardcover edition.

By: RevBev

RevBev — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:04:53 +0000

OT: Good Morning. NPR had a piece today noting that this is the 50th Anniversary of Castro take over in Cuba. Lots of stuff about the CIA and who was/not paying attention. Sounded like a very familiar “who would have thought?” Ike sort of saying why didn’t someone tell me?

By: Raven

Raven — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:00:22 +0000

No, I never saw them but I bet I drove over them. You should read the Tunnels of Cu Chi, great book and the chapter on US technology R&D is priceless. The mexican bedbugs glued to transmitters and dropped on the trail is hilarious.