Xah Lee's Unixism

[Patrick Scheible]

Morten Reistad <firstname at lastname.pr1v.n0> writes:

> I do not agree. Kennedy and  Clinton had a lousy foreign-policy
> record. The Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, the Cuba crisis were all 
> examples of glorious miscalculations. Ditto Rwanda, Somalia, and
> the 

Vietnam was certainly a catastrophe, but the blame goes to Johnson,
not Kennedy.  There were only a few thousand U.S. troops in training
and advisory roles in Vietnam by Kennedy's assassination.  Johnson
decided to escalate the war and have U.S. forces fight directly.

Even the best presidents can't have nothing but successes.  The Bay of
Pigs was a failure, but at least Kennedy didn't compound the mistake
by sending in U.S. troops where Cuban expats failed.

-- Patrick