Word: westmorelands
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There is no indication, however, that Westmoreland's reports to the White House have been less exuberant than his public pronouncements. Presumably, he was misled by his intelligence unit. Nearly all military experts agree Westmoreland has underestimated Communist strength-or overestimated the effectiveness of Viet Nam's regular army and paramilitary units. His own command admits the strength of the enemy Tet offensive came as a shock...
Calling the Shots. To some experts, Westmoreland's prime weakness as a commander (and every commander has one, military men are quick to point out) is the opposite of the late Douglas MacArthur's. He is too willing to accept orders from Washington without fighting for his own views. "He hasn't had what it takes to insist all the way that his own best ideas prevail," says a former high officer. "No other general has ever had to suffer a command structure like this. But a general has got to know what is right and what...
...Though Westmoreland is not the genius at grasping broad strategy that MacArthur was, he has spoken often of the strategy of this war, and many of his ideas have been adopted. In any case, it is the President who has been the final arbiter of the war's strategy, aided by space-age communications that enable him to maintain instantaneous contact with his field commanders...
Circular Reasoning. Westmoreland sees the assault on Khe Sanh as the capstone of a three-phase campaign devised by Giap last September to win the war. Some captured documents show that Communist cadres in South Viet Nam have been told that the first three months of this year are the crucial period. During this period they are urged to win a decisive victory, which in turn will be followed by a coalition government dictated by the Viet Cong...
...first phase, which produced the battles of Loc Ninh and Dak To along the Cambodian border, was designed to draw American forces away from population centers and rural pacification areas and "force us," as Westmoreland said, "to dissipate our military strength." The second phase erupted in the past week's widespread attacks on population centers and military installations, aimed at rendering impotent for a time the U.S. ability to react quickly to the third-phase "main attack" against the Marines in northern Viet...