Word: battlefield
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...negotiations with the Viet Cong in South Viet Nam directly-or give them a share in any postwar government of South Viet Nam. To do so, Washington adjudges with reason, would be to hand over at the conference table what the Communists are now trying to win on the battlefield. Such are the grim realities of the struggle in South Viet Nam that there is in fact very little to negotiate about, so far apart are the minimum positions of the two sides (see ESSAY...
...armistice conference. Thereafter, we lacked the essential military pressure to enforce a reasonable attitude"-and 70,000 American casualties were sustained under Communist attacks while the talks dragged on for two years. In Viet Nam, warns a top U.S. diplomat in the Far East, to ease up on the battlefield would be "to ensure a loss at the bargaining table." Furthermore, if talks broke down after a ceasefire, it would be difficult to regain the momentum to start the war up again. Some U.S. diplomats also insist that any talks should have a time limit and not be allowed...
Given the conditions of modern warfare, with escalation to the nuclear level an ever-present threat, such a tactical use of diplomacy comes as a welcome alternative to the battlefield. The "new diplomacy" may not bring about negotiations tomorrow, but the flexibility which Johnson has introduced may well shorten the war or limit its intensity. The Russians will probably first solidify their position in the North. The Hanoi-Moscow line might then soften, and a consequent softening by Washington and Saigon may follow. When and if that happens, historians will be left to debate whether the settlement that develops could...
...warfare manual that Communists from Havana to Hanoi had long regarded as holy writ. With stupendous firepower and mobility undreamed of even a decade ago, U.S. strike forces swooped into guerrilla redoubts long considered impenetrable. Like clouds of giant dragonflies, helicopters hauled riflemen and heavy artillery from base to battlefield in minutes, giving them the advantages of surprise and flexibility. Tactical air strikes scraped guerrillas off jungled ridges, buried them in mazelike tunnels, or kept them forever on the run. Unheard from the ground, giant B-52s of the Strategic Air Command pattern-bombed the enemy's forest hideaways...
...battlefield in their war stretched from the kite-shaped six acre plot where they live, to the Saint Patrick's Day parade in Boston, to Beacon Hill and the corridors of power in Washington, and to the paddy wagon and the jail cell...