Strange?

This is coolbert:

From the wiki entry for the "Fog of War" we have this admonition from Robert S. McNamara that I find to be strange indeed:

"Ten additional lessons from R.S. McNamara"

"3. We [the U.S.A.] are the most powerful nation in the world—economically, politically, and militarily—and we are likely to remain so for decades ahead. But we are not omniscient. If we cannot persuade other nations with similar interests and similar values of the merits of the proposed use of that power, we should not proceed unilaterally except in the unlikely requirement to defend directly the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii."

American power as enunciated by Robert S McNamara to be used to defend "unilaterally" only the continental United States, the contiguous forty eight states, Alaska and Hawaii. The fifty states constituting the union.

My instantaneous reaction was WHAT ABOUT GUAM? And too, WHAT ABOUT THOSE VARIOUS TREATY ARRANGEMENTS THE UNITED STATES HAS ENTERED INTO WITH OTHER SOVEREIGN NATIONS AROUND THE WORLD?

It is by such misstatements that WARS are started? Nations around the world hostile to the United States and American interests or perceived interests make keen observations with a lack of understanding that leads them to make false and incorrect assumptions of American resolve?

[it is often said that American policy makers quite often do not understand foreign nations we may find ourselves in conflict with. My own perception is that THOSE FOREIGN NATIONS UNDERSTAND US LESS THAN WE UNDERSTAND THEM!!]

SUCH HAS BEEN THE CASE EVER SINCE THE KOREAN WAR! The alleged erroneous pronouncements of Dean Acheson often have been cited as a CAUSE of the Korean War, the communist North Korean and their various backers taking comfort in advance that the American military would not intervene as it did!

Policy makers and foreign observers pay attention to the wiki and the documentaries such as the "Fog of War"? Robert is gone now but if he was around I can hear him saying: "let me explain!"!

coolbert.