Open Secrets of American Foreign Policy

The following sections are included:

• Contents

Although "open secrets" seems a self-contradictory phrase, it seems also to be good English. My usage is, I think, less subject to criticism than most. In this essay, I will be dealing with some areas in American foreign policy in which the conventional wisdom is not only wrong, but can be disproved from open sources like newspapers. In some cases I will bring in from open sources things that will surprise the "usually well-informed" people, although I will criticize ignorance rather than error…

The following sections are included:

• Addendum

The current intellectual view of the Communist victory in China is well summarized by Lars-Eric Nelson in a paragraph at the beginning of an article on another subject⁷. He was writing in the context of the debate over "Who lost China?", which was premised on the assumption that the "convulsive Chinese Communist revolution, a forty-year struggle involving hundreds of desperate people, could have been thwarted, or at least turned in a positive direction, by adroit diplomacy in Washington. The inanity of the China debate was instantly apparent, yet the illusion thrives"…

It is not really a secret, but also little known, that we forced the Republic of Korea (ROK) to keep their army at about 100,000 men until mid-1952. Further, they were not permitted to have a real air force until well after the armistice. This is one of the reasons our forces were so severely out-numbered. Supply difficulties would not have permitted the Chinese Communists and the North Koreans to much expand the forces they had in North Korea. President Rhee wanted 2,400,000 men in the ROK army, and the manpower would have been available. After the expansion of the ROK army was put in hand in the summer of l952, the ROK army rose to 600,000 men by the summer of 1953, well after the end of the fighting. It obviously could have been larger, although probably not 2,400,000…

The title of this chapter may surprise most readers who are accustomed to merely calling it the American Revolution of 1776. In fact, it was a world war with major naval battles in the Indian Ocean and almost the whole of Europe involved. Militarily, the American theater was a sideshow. Further, what little fighting there was in that theater normally resulted in American defeats. Washington was a very good strategist, but a poor tactician, and our troops rarely stood up to a British bayonet charge…

In the summer and fall of 1941, the Japanese had more or less decided to enter the war and the only major problem debated in their councils was whether they should attack north into Siberia or south into the European colonial empires. They decided to move south and a Russian spy reported this to Stalin, who accordingly moved part of the army that was guarding Siberia against the Japanese to Europe. This had much to do with Hitler's failure to take Moscow in the fall of 1941…

In a Washington Post Editorial on the Chilean Supreme Court's decision to waive Pinochet's immunity, the issue of persecuting General Pinochet is discussed as "a momentous international debate on the question of whether the signatory countries of international conventions on crimes against humanity may exercise what amounts to universal jurisdiction over perpetrators, including ex-heads of state, from outside their own borders. Rulings by the British Law Lords, Great Britain's highest legal authority, seemed to strengthen the principle of universal jurisdiction…"¹⁴. It is clear what side the Washington Post took in that debate…

One of the things said about the Vietnam War is that it was the first war the United States lost. The people who said this were usually, but not always, opponents of the war. Thus, they normally did not mention the bloodshed after the end of the war or the fact that living standards fell sharply (they gave up the consumer society, to quote a prominent reporter). In truth, ignoring the merits or demerits of the war, it was the third or fourth war the United States lost. These figures do not include the various Indian campaigns in some of which our troops were less than outstandingly successful…

Table 1 was taken from America Votes and purports to show the popular votes in l960. You will note that Kennedy had only slightly more votes than Nixon and neither had a majority. Kennedy had only slightly over 20,000 votes more than Nixon…

I should begin by confessing my personal attitude on drug consumption. I see no reason why people cannot be permitted to consume them if they want. I have had this attitude since the 1930s, although I have never taken anything stronger than alcohol. It is possible to argue that drugs are a sort of trap into which it is possible to fall, and hence, people should be protected from it. The scientific studies on the subject, however, seem to be poor, and I would suggest further research rather than prohibition…

In casual conversation, some of my friends, particularly my liberal friends, sometimes say that assassinating Saddam could solve our problems with Iraq. When I say that assassinating a chief of state is not easy they will normally ask, "Why?" This shows they have not given the matter much thought, but that is no sin. How often do the best of us carefully consider everything we say in casual conversation?…

At one point in time, I was the expert on North Korea for the American Embassy in Korea. I was never very much of an expert, depending on the foreign broadcast interception service for most of my information. Nevertheless, I remained the principal expert in the Department of State for North Korea after I returned to Washington. The fact that someone as junior in rank as I was the principal expert shows how low a priority the Department of State gave to the subject. But even though I was not much of an expert, I know more than most people on the subject…

United States entered World War I because of the German submarine attacks on shipping in the Atlantic. We not only objected to the use of submarines, but also to the particular methods they used. When Germans first began using the submarines, they would surface fire a shot across the bow of merchant ships and wait until the crew were in the boats, sometimes even giving the boats a tow to someplace near land…

In the present-day world, "aggression" is usually regarded as a very serious sin. We have several times engaged in wars against aggressors and normally regard these wars as "just" because aggression is regarded as sinful. As a matter of fact, United States is one of history's most successful aggressor nations. We conquered almost the entirety of continental United States through a series of small but undeniably aggressive wars against the Indians who were in possession. We also made a serious but unsuccessful effort to conquer Canada in 1812. Much of the southwest was originally taken from the Mexicans who were in occupation by two wars – one by the Texans and then, when we annexed Texas, by us. There were still many Indian tribes who did not recognize Mexican sovereignty or our sovereignty when we replaced them. The wars with Geronimo in that area were among our most difficult aggressive wars. We of course bought Florida from Spain, but only after making it clear we would compel an exit by force if they decided not to take our money…

Many political scientists apparently feel insecure in their teaching that democracy is the best form of government. Thus, recently there has been quite a fad in political science arguing that democracies are one way or another peaceful. It is hard to argue that the Roman Republic was a peaceful conqueror, and the Athenian democracy was hardly reluctant to get into wars. It could of course be argued that these were long ago and maybe are not representative of true democracies. I suspect, however, that they have been left out simply because most modern political scientists know little about them. A classical education is no longer part of the normal background of a scholar…

In World War II, both American and British air forces engaged in very heavy bombing of cities in Germany and Japan and occasionally in other places. In this they were following the theories of an Italian air force officer named Douhet. His idea was that an aerial war by and of itself could destroy an enemy country and hence, win the war. He argued that industry would be destroyed and, in particular, the bombing would destroy the arms-making industry; therefore, the country would have no alternative but to surrender…

Occasionally, perhaps once a year or less, a former German concentration camp guard (usually in his eighties) is found in the United States, formally deprived of his American citizenship and deported to Germany. There, or perhaps in some other European country where he served as a guard in the concentration camp, he is found guilty of a crime and put in jail for the rest of his life. Granted that most of them, if they had refused to act as a guard, would have been put in the infantry where the death rate was high, it is possible to argue that this is an excessive punishment…

I must pause here and produce a little very elementary theory. A case in which there are many countries involved is subject to the balance of power. In recent years, many list the balance of power as a method of preserving peace. This is the exact opposite of the original meaning of the term. Early scholars like Hume reasoned that if one country began getting more powerful than others, the others would combine against it. Thus, in a way, the balance of power theory holds that war is inevitable because no single country can do what Rome did and eliminate all of its competitors. That this theory fits post-Roman history very well is obvious, but the preservation of peace by the balance of power is not…

Throughout this book, I have called attention to certain things that happened in the past, and pointed out the importance of their effect on our present-day situation. Note these things are not secret; indeed, some are mentioned in the standard histories. Standard histories, however, do not offer any explanation for them nor do they, in general, raise questions about why they happened. I will not be able to say why they happened, but raising the question and suggesting that other people try seems worthwhile…

The following sections are included:

• References

• Index