|
lpetrich
Skeptic Friend
USA
74 Posts |
 Posted - 11/20/2001 : 03:54:18
|
I consider it a bit odd that Admiral Stufflebeem was perplexed at why the Taliban did not quickly fold after US bombardment. This is because he has had plenty of opportunity to learn about military forces with seemingly unusual tenacity.
The Afghans themselves, in their war against the Soviet Union, could live in the mountains in the shadow of an advanced military force. They "won" by outlasting the SU, whose leaders eventually decided to quit after a decade of war without clear progress.
Likewise, the Vietcong in Vietnam had achieved a similar sort of "victory" over the US; without US troops to back it up, the South Vietnamese government soon fell, as Afghanistan's pro-Soviet government eventually did.
The admiral's professional predecessors in WWII had been up against a similarly tenacious enemy: imperial Japan. Japanese troops would fight to the death in their Pacific-island garrisons, and many of them would choose suicide over being captured. And late in the war, Japan had lost many experienced pilots, and attacking the US fleet became practically suicidal ("The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot"). However, Japan's commanders hatched a relatively simple sort of attack: load airplanes with explosives and have their pilots crash them into US ships. Despite this tactic being practically guaranteed suicide, there were some who were willing to fly those missions, or at least who were resigned to doing so.
And there were some Japanese commanders who were planning for a fight to defend their homeland to the last man, woman, and child -- in a very literal sense. Women were to be armed with pointed sticks and children were to have explosives strapped on and sent to tanks. Fortunately, Emperor Hirohito threw in the towel, though with some welcoming his announcement by committing suicide.
|
|
Topic Locked
