Since MacArthur’s Firing 72 Years Ago, All U.S. Wars Have Been Substitutes for Victory

[pipedreams]

For that, we have Harry Truman to thank.

"Truman, of course, properly exercised his constitutional power to relieve MacArthur of command, but that doesn’t mean his decision was wise or that his war policy of stalemate instead of victory was the best one. Most liberal historians (which means most historians) credit Truman with avoiding World War III, and portray MacArthur as an arrogant, reckless warmonger. MacArthur was certainly arrogant, but his recklessness was usually limited to unnecessarily risking his own life in battles. The man detractors called “dugout Doug” was in reality one of the most courageous men ever to wear a military uniform. His combined arms strategy in the southwest Pacific in World War II won victories with relatively fewer casualties than in other theaters of the war. Why take by attrition what I can achieve by strategy, he often remarked."

https://spectator.org/since-macarthurs-firing-72-years-ago-all-u-s-wars-have-been-substitutes-for-victory/

"Arthur Herman, MacArthur’s most recent biographer, notes the consequences of America’s adopting Truman’s instead of MacArthur’s approach to war. “[A]fter the experiences of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan,” Herman writes, “it seems debatable whether the U.S. military, and the world, is truly better off for rejecting the MacArthur model.” The substitutes for victory since Korea have been defeats or endless wars. Truman’s legacy in firing MacArthur, in Herman’s words, is “an America resigned to fighting wars that its political leadership is determined not to win, until the public finally loses patience and insists that its leaders call it quits.”"

 

[Batesmotel]

We wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by actually winning a war. Would we?

[railfancwb]

4 hours ago, Batesmotel said:

We wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by actually winning a war. Would we?

Get in, win, get out. Where’s the profit for arms makers in that? And the 10% is much smaller. 

[railfancwb]

Wasn’t the Korea involvement at the behest of the UN? By that time Congress had abdicated it’s Constitutional responsibility to declare wars.