Useful Fools

Listening to Col. David Hackworth on CNN, I am amazed at how consistently myopic he continues to be.

Hackworth is one of America’s most decorated soldiers, and proved in Vietnam that he was a courageous and deadly commander. His books are fascinating and moving (I highly recommend “Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts”).

However, he also proved that he could not see the larger picture when he turned against the Vietnam War in his poorly reasoned book “About Face”. He argued that the war was unwinnable, and yet shortly afterwards the war was won by Richard Nixon’s shift in tactics (the Haiphong mining, the Hanoi bombings, and continued Air Force aid to the ARVN). Only the subsequent perfidy of the US Congress led to the loss of Vietnam (hardly Hackworth’s argument, although ironically his widely publicized about face might have contributed to the political change).

Ever since he has been singing the same tune. The Pentagon (”perfumed princes” in his phrase) are always wrong. The troops are always being let down. The political leaders are always liars. The strategy is always stupid and he knows a better one.

Now he is saying exactly the same thing. He even brought up the old Vietnam saw about destroying a village in order to save it. We are a week into the war and all Hack can see is blunders by generals and civilian officials.

Hack is not always wrong. He certainly knows a lot about fighting and has a network of lower ranking officer informants. But it would be nice to hear him actually find something positive once in a while.

He has never demonstrated a strategic viewpoint. It is not surprising the he is a retired Colonel and not a retired General. Generals get paid to make and execute strategy. Colonels get paid to carry it out.