Aguila Blanca
Staff
doofus47 said:I don't know whether the writer of this article was all she claims to have been, but one would wonder whether the commander of two special ops groups doing (paraphrase) 'the most physically demanding and politically sensitive missions,' would be involved with any of our allies / enemies in a government versus citizens situation. Surely, someone who attended West Point would be able to see how an armed citizenry makes for a sticky wicket for an authoritarian government. Anyone with that sort of real world experience should be able to translate that same power dynamic to our own nation.
Wasn't it William Westmorland (a West Point graduate) who famously said about guns that if people want to shoot guns they should join the military? If it wasn't Westmorland, it might have been Alexander Haig (also a West Point graduate).
Another choice quote, this one definitely from Westmorland: "Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind." (It should be noted that Westmorland was accused of fudging intelligence reports on enemy strength in Vietnam in order to bolster support for the war.) In other words, "The people are too dumb to be allowed to think for themselves. We have to control how they think."
Another of his quotes: "I don't think I have been loved by my troops, but I think I have been respected." Classic self-deception. Some of his field grade officers may have respected him, but in the course of my tour in Vietnam I don't think I met a single soldier who respected Westmorland. Granted, out of all the thousands of soldiers we had over there, I was basically only exposed to the guys in my company, so that's hardly a majority. But, within my unit, I don't recall one single, solitary man who respected Westmorland.
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