Human Terrain & Anthropology (merged thread)

[Umar Al-Mokhtār]

how would you feel over an SF op to destroy Venezuala's oil production facilities only to discover afterwards that the op was a "favour" to Haliburton executives so they could maximize their profits?

have you been sneaking down here and looking into our playbook? Who told you about this op?

Phoenix was way too late. South Vietnam had pretty much lost the war in '62 thanks to Diem's ruthless policies, capped by Decree 10/59. Then the '63 coup left the country leaderless for too many years, in which time the NLF consolidated its hold. '68 was a heavy blow to the NLF but it had the same affect as the Red River Delta Offensive had on the Viet Minh in '51, it only made them stronger. Had we initiated CORD/Phoenix in '65 we might have come out on top.

But by eliminating leadership judiciously (and permanently) faster than they can be replaced makes many an insurgent take a closer look at the benefits of capitalism.