Escalation is a tricky word
something like... a floating turd
mixed meanings that are often blurred
Sanctuary for the herd
Vietnam was the war of escalation. Increasing troop numbers as a solution to continued policy failures and setbacks became the rally cry of conservatives and warhawks just a generation ago.
On the eve of the McCain/Lieberman and the Bush/Cheney push for escalation in Iraq...the deja vu is almost intoxicatingly ethereal...
Let us pass through the mists of time once again....
On 27 July 1964 5,000 additional military advisors were ordered to South Vietnam, bringing the total US troop level to 21,000. Shortly thereafter an incident occured off the coast of North Vietnam that was destined to escalate the conflict to new levels and lead to the full Americanization of the war. On the evening of August 4 1964, the destroyer U.S.S. Maddox was conducting an electronic intelligence gathering mission four miles off the North Vietnamese coast when it was attacked by three torpedo boats of the North Vietnamese navy. Maddox was joined by aircraft from the aircraft-carrier U.S.S. Ticonderoga, and in the ensuing fire-fight they damaged two of the Vietnamese boats and disabled another. After being joined by another destroyer, the C. Turner Joy, both ships returned to ‘fly the flag’ in what the US claimed were international waters. On the morning of the 4th, the Maddox reported the presence of hostile boats and believed that an attack might be imminent. By the evening, both ships believed they had been attacked by many North Vietnamese vessels, although it now appears that no such attack actually took place.[9] Robert McNamara et al, Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy, pp. 166-167
There was rampant confusion in Washington, but the incident was seen by the administration as the perfect opportunity to present Congress with "a pre-dated declaration of war."
The phoney pretext for war...sound familiar? "We'll fight Communism there so we won't have to fight them here" etc. ad nauseum. Fill in your favorite cliche____________________________
President Johnson had already appointed General William C. Westmoreland to succeed Paul D. Harkins as Commander of MACV in June 1964. Under Westmoreland, the expansion of American troop strength in Vietnam took place. American forces rose from 16,000 during 1964 to more than 553,000 by 1969.
On 27 November 1965, the Pentagon declared that if the major operations needed to neutralize North Vietnamese and if NLF forces were to succeed, U.S. troop levels in South Vietnam would have to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000. In a series of meetings between Westmoreland and the president held in Honolulu in February 1966, Westmoreland argued that the U.S. presence had succeeded in preventing the immediate defeat of the South Vietnamese government, but that more troops would be necessary if systematic offensive operations were to be conducted.
As a result of the Honolulu conference, President Johnson authorized an increase in troop strength to 429,000 by August 1966. The large increase in troops enabled MACV to carry out numerous operations that grew in size and complexity during the next two years
Late in 1967, Westmoreland said that it was conceivable that in two years or less U.S. forces could be phased out of the war, turning over more and more of the fighting to the ARVN (army of the Republic of Vietnam)
Nixon had continuously campaigned under the slogan that he "had a plan to end the Vietnam War." Unfortunately, no such plan existed and the American commitment would continue for another five years. The goal of the American military effort was now to buy time, gradually build up the strength of the South Vietnamese armed forces, and to re-equip them with modern weapons so that they could defend their nation on their own. This policy became the cornerstone of the so-called "Nixon Doctrine". As applied to Vietnam, it was labelled "Vietnamization".
The McCain/Lieberman Doctrine will uncloak itself for all to marvel at soon. Perhaps we can call it "Iraqization" ?
The Bush Doctrine has cast it's lot with History.
and the repetition of History is an enigma for those who ignore it.