Angelo M. Codevilla Quotes
“Exit Strategy” means trying to get out without looking too bad.
Angelo M. Codevilla, Author and National Security Scholar, Vice Chairman of the U.S. Army War College Board of Visitors, Senate Staffer of the Intelligence Committee, C-SPAN, Book TV, October 12, 2010
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Komer, Wesmoreland, and the Military Command in Vietnam had been lying about American success in the Vietnam War. The CIA analysts (see {634522}) had figured out that if the Westmoreland numbers of enemy killed were correct, there would have been almost no young men left to fight in North Vietnam, and yet their military was as large and strong as ever. The CIA director sent Carver to Saigon to tell Komer and Westmoreland that CIA was about to issue their findings. Komer was an ultra-hawk, known as “Blowtorch Bob”, who had personally sent many memos to the White House reporting that we were winning in Vietnam and the only question was how soon we could attain total victory. For his work in Vietnam, he was made Ambassador to Turkey. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by LBJ. Some critics believe that Johnson’s after Vietnam treatment of Komer was to assure his silence as he knew everything about the deception and was a major perpetrator of it. Discipline for lying was out of the question with someone who knew all that Komer did.
China had a similar policy with each side wanting to establish more of a precedent for its ownership of the islands. Military flyovers, landing parties raising national flags by both countries triggered counter measures and the likelihood of casualties and even death to some soldiers. Both sides seemed willing to risk the lives of their troops as long as the conflict could be contained thereafter. But sometimes it cannot be.
Ataturk advocated a very strong military establishment that should rarely if ever be used—always preferring a diplomatic, political solution to foreign policy problems.
Ironically, Lieberman was using this quotation to campaign against Bush’s son, George W. Bush.
There were reports that the FBI was investigating alleged involvement of the speaker with a garbage company. There was no negative finding.
Angelo M. Codevilla is an Italian-US professor emeritus of international relations at what is now the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He served as a U.S. Navy officer, a foreign service officer, and professional staff member of the Select Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate. Codevilla's books and articles range from French and Italian politics to the thoughts of Machiavelli and Montesquieu to arms control, war, the technology of ballistic missile defenses, and a broad range of international topics. Articles by Codevilla have appeared in Commentary, Foreign Affairs, National Review, and The New Republic. His op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He has also been published in Political Science Reviewer, Intercollegiate Review, and Politica.
