Michael S. Gazzaniga on the Search for DNA

nam, where the issue is joined and will be determined.”

The problem here, of course, is that events are now moving beyond even this doleful prescription. Mr. Ball’s words were written before the Tet offensive and before the mounting tide of public opposition to a prolonged war made it politically impossible for President Johnson to accede to General Westmoreland’s request for the 200,000 more troops which he regards as necessary to pursue the attrition strategy successfully. Increasingly, it now looks as though the United States will in desperation accept, and force upon its unwilling South Vietnamese ally, one of those “solutions” which Ball and nearly every other careful analyst of the Vietnam war knows very well will not work. In this case even the limited objective will fail and South Vietnam will most certainly be lost.

MG

About the Author

Michael Gazzaniga

Featured Tags

nam, where the issue is joined and will be determined.”

The problem here, of course, is that events are now moving beyond even this doleful prescription. Mr. Ball’s words were written before the Tet offensive and before the mounting tide of public opposition to a prolonged war made it politically impossible for President Johnson to accede to General Westmoreland’s request for the 200,000 more troops which he regards as necessary to pursue the attrition strategy successfully. Increasingly, it now looks as though the United States will in desperation accept, and force upon its unwilling South Vietnamese ally, one of those “solutions” which Ball and nearly every other careful analyst of the Vietnam war knows very well will not work. In this case even the limited objective will fail and South Vietnam will most certainly be lost.