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From the Dept. of Brilliant Ideas
Spencer Ackerman and Matthew Yglesias have an idea as to who should headline the CNAS June conference: Vo Nguyen Giap. I, for one, think this would be a brilliant idea. Our two most high-profile programs at CNAS are, arguably, our Asia-Pacific Security program and our projects examining America's current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. What a great way to combine the two! Vo could speak about COIN (albeit with the C and the O) and could provide insight on Asian security. Genius!
He's too old, he may just
He's too old, he may just croak during the event.
Oh Boy! And get Jane Fonda
Oh Boy!
And get Jane Fonda as a warm up speaker.
Jane People still have fonda
Jane
People still have fonda memories.........I would not go there.
That is brilliant.
That is brilliant.
At least his team listened
At least his team listened to him.
................and our team
................and our team listened to LBJ.
How about Che Guervara tee shirts as door prizes....Cha Cha Che AKA bank robber.
FARC? Shining Path?
As Johnnie use to say.....Bombooooo. Exum, it this is humor stick with being the straight man.
Have Petraeus back for an
Have Petraeus back for an encore. It would be appropriate since speakers will likely repeat last year's COIN whatnot.
ummmm the man is 98 years
ummmm the man is 98 years old.. i'm not sure how coherent his speech and thoughts will be.
I second Fnord. Plus, the
I second Fnord. Plus, the underwear he possibly wears might make him susceptible to intense TSA scrutiny. He might even be arrested if he refuses to tell CBP how much he makes.
ADTS
The polite way to refer to
The polite way to refer to Gen Vo would be as 'Giap'.
Though Vietnamese, like most Asians, put the family name first and the personal name last, the family names are so common that it is universally accepted that one addresses the individual by his personal name.
Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
While I don't know his
While I don't know his current health, Vo Nguyen Giap did talk to LTG (ret) Hal Moore and Joe Galloway for both their books. When Moore handed him his watch as a keepsake, "Giap held the watch in both hands, looking at it in amazement, as tears gathered in his eyes and mine. Then he turned and clutched me to himself in a full embrace. It was my turned to be stunned as this former enemy — arguably one of the greatest military commanders of the twentieth century — held me like a son in his arms for a long moment."
Vo Nguyen Giap unquestionably led the resistance to the French and Japanese. There's a lot of misperception, however, how much of a role he had in fighting the U.S. His operational role was over sometime in the fifties, although he stayed on in the Politburo. Also, there was considerable Politburo-level argument between his theories, those of Truong Chinh, and the effective leader, Le Duan -- Ho Chi Minh was ceremonial by then. Giap's strategic model was dau tranh, which differed from the more Maoist one of Truong Chinh.
There have been quite a few historical exchanges, many at Texas Tech University in the US, and also in Hanoi.
In the South, the strategic/operational level was with Nguyen Chi Thanh, who died in 1967, probably having planned most of the Tet Offensive, and being the key architect of the closely held General Offensive-General Uprising Tong Kong Kich/Tong Kong Ngia (TCN/TCK) doctrine. Giap almost certainly knows, however, exactly what Tranh, and probably Truong Chinh, had in mind. TCN/TCK was a variant of Mao's three phases, with some Vietnamese twists.
The final, essentially conventional 1975 offensive was under Van Tien Dung, who was a protege of Giap.
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