Today is the 60th anniversary of the day the Communist NORKs crossed the 38th parallel and attacked South Korea.
A few things happened immediately after .President Truman went to the UNSC to get permission to defend South Korea (Resolution 82). General MacArthur was appointed Commander of the UN forces . President Truman ;under the assumption that the Korean war was the opening salvo in WW III ,asked the President of Columbia University ,former WWII Allied Supreme Commander Dwight David Eisenhower ,to assume command of NATO .Ike assumed command in 1951 and spent 15 months organizing the defense of Europe.
I will skip a lot of details and fast forward to April 5 1951 . Representative Joseph William Martin Jr. revealed a letter from MacArthur critical of President Truman's limited-war strategy and read it on the floor of the house.
Douglas MacArthur - WikiquoteQuote:
'It seems strangely difficult for some to realize that here in Asia is where the Communist conspirators have elected to make their play for global conquest, and that we have joined the issue thus raised on the battlefield; that here we fight Europe’s war with arms while the diplomats there still fight it with words; that if we lose the war to communism in Asia the fall of Europe is inevitable, win it and Europe most probably would avoid war and yet preserve freedom. As you pointed out, we must win. "There is no substitute for victory."'
Truman met with Secretary of Defense George Marshall, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Omar Bradley ,Sec. State Dean Acheson and Averill Harriman . The military leadership was not in favor of MacArthur's dismissal ,but Truman sided with Acheson and dismissed him.
Meanwhile Ike began getting letters from New Hampshire Governor Sherman Adams (who later became Ike's White House Chief of Staff ),and other Republicans ,suggesting that Ike throw his hat in the ring for a 1952 Presidential bid.
The rest is history... one Truman General dismissed ,the General he called on to serve became President.
I know that the parallel is not exact. But still the comparison is compelling . McChrystal like MacArthur will "fade away" .
Despite calling on General Petreaus to pull him out of the fire ;Obama fears the political fortunes of the General. Perhaps the President thinks demoting the General ,and placing him into the impossible position of executing the war under the terms the President has set will derail the General's political ambitions before they get on track.
Tunku Varadarajan at the Daily Beast thinks so.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/.../dav...-2012-running/Quote:
Barack Obama, who has in recent days turned haplessness into an art form, played a masterstroke today, making perhaps the canniest, wiliest, even wisest decision of his generally rudderless presidency. I refer, of course, to his appointment of David Petraeus to the Afghan war command, in place of the Rolling-Stoned Stanley McChrystal. In doing so, Obama has, at a stroke, taken Petraeus out of the 2012 presidential race.
Keep your friends close—and the competition closer.
The parallel would be complete if like Truman ;the bogus POTUS got tired of the gig and announced he would not seek a 2nd term... one can only hope.