Military Forces Quotes
Nkrumah was one of the great African democrats. Like George Washington, he voluntarily relinquished his Presidency when most would have had him as a “President for Life,” or even a king. His greater vision was one of pan-Africanism. In the defense arena he didn’t realize that the major purposes of most African military was to maintain the existing regime in power unlike his own example. He further assumed that military threats would come from outside the continent as they historically had. However, virtually all the conflict in Africa has been between contending groups within a country and nearby countries taking sides and thus being drawn into the conflict.
See his defense of this policy to Congress: {631952}
Nixon, when he took office, berated the CIA Director in front of the entire National Security Staff for underestimating Soviet Military capability. His intense pressure caused the CIA to go through a period where they constantly overestimated Russian capability and intentions. They found that most politicians preferred a serious threat rather than be accused of spending so much of the government’s budget—roughly half—for Defense.
Tito often did not support Soviet policies, but in the case of the Hungarian Revolution he did. He saw Hungary was split into pro and anti Communist factions in the midst of the Cold war. He and the Russians feared that if the Hungarians were allowed to settle their own dispute, there would be a protracted civil war with neither side strong enough to win rapidly. If this happened, the Russians were treaty bound to provide arms and other assistance to the Communist Hungarian government. And if they did so, it was very likely that NATO and the United States would supply similar assistance to the Hungarian Revolutionaries. The result would surely involve enormous loss of Hungarian lives on both sides, and the clear risk of an East West clash that would lead to a World War that might be nuclear. Russian troops and tanks rolled into Hungary and the conflict was over in a few days with very little loss of life. Therefore, even though Hungary lost its independence and freedoms, it was a necessary evil in Tito’s view.
The term “slave soldiers” oversimplifies the relationships which existed in Islamic societies. For example the Sultans of the Ottoman Turks established networks of non-Muslim minorities, Christians, Jews and others who while slaves could wield tremendous power. Grand Viziers were even slaves. The slavery concept meant that the Sultan had the power of arbitrary life and death over the soldier which is what he wanted for his key units. Islamic law prohibited Muslims from holding other Muslims as slaves.
After the French were driven out, Vietnam was supposed to have a national election to choose a government but the people of Vietnam were deeply split between those supporting the Communists and Ho Chi Min (who had led the campaign to oust the French from their colony) on one side and Vietnamese who were more Westernized and favored a democracy. Vietnam was mostly Buddhist but most of the Western oriented leadership of the Democracy advocates were Christians. They wanted to delay the election to give them a chance to organize to catch up with the communists at political organization. Ho Chi Min and the Communists already do facto controlled the North of Vietnam and decided to use force against the Western oriented forces whose military was much smaller than the Communists who had ejected the French. The United States provided financial aid and supplied weapons and Central Intelligence Agency assistance to the South Vietnam forces who were afraid of being overrun by the Communists headquartered in the North. Taylor’s mission was to go to Vietnam, assess the situation and make recommendations to President Kennedy.
This view has had a profound influence on the attitudes and actions of many Israelis in dealing with Arab terrorism. “Proportionate” retaliation is only retaliation and perhaps vengeance, but this doctrine developed out of frustration that little else worked has in many subsequent occasions driven Israeli government defense policy. The Lebanese War of 2006 was perhaps the best illustration.
