[lbo-talk] crappy little countries (cont.)

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Fri Aug 17 13:26:50 PDT 2007


[thanks to Michael Pollak for pointing this out]

<http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/001674.html>

August 16, 2007

Crappy Little Countries, In Theory And Practice You probably remember Jonah Goldberg's endorsement of Michael Ledeen's worldview:

I've long been an admirer of, if not a full-fledged subscriber to, what I call the "Ledeen Doctrine"..."Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business." But you may not be aware of Richard Nixon explanation of how he was going to put this theory into practice. (There are barely any references to it online.) This is from Nixon's oval office tapes, on May 4, 1972:

NIXON: Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna get through it. We're going to cream them. This is not anger. This is all business. This is not "petulance." That's all bullshit. I should have done it long ago. I just didn't follow my instincts. South Vietnam may lose. But the United States cannot lose...Whatever happens to South Vietnam, we are going to cream North Vietnam...For once, we've got to use the maximum power of this country...against this shit-ass little country."

ALSO: In the same tape, Nixon refers to Vietnamese as "those little cocksuckers." Manly!

Posted by Jonathan Schwarz at August 16, 2007 07:41 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Don't forget the immortal words of our beloved (and yes, manly) Humanitarian-in-Chief, Bill Clinton:

"We're not inflicting pain on these fuckers," Clinton said, softly at first. "When people kill us, they should be killed in greater numbers." Then, with his face reddening, his voice rising, and his fist pounding his thigh, he leaned into Tony [Lake], as if it was his fault. "I believe in killing people who try to hurt you. And I can't believe we're being pushed around by these two-bit pricks."

Posted by: John Caruso at August 16, 2007 11:48 PM



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