|
I assumed he was referring to Gulf I and Gulf II/Afganistan.
I don't know if it is playing nationally on NPR or just locally but there was an interesting conference on Vietnam recently and they've been excerpts. Jack Valenti in one presentation made an interesting point about how on his own JFK might very well have avoided Vietnam and LBJ probably would have as well. But since LBJ inherited JFK's Vietnam policies it was seen as politically impossible to change them. Not particularly relevant but not something I had considered before.
More on topic, I guess it depends on what you define as unavoidable. Is going to war to aid in the defense of an ally avoidable? Obviously, you can avoid the war by turning your back on them, but is that the right thing to do? Sometimes? Always? Never?
|