To Oppose Any Foe

by Fisher, Ross A.; Moore, John Norton; Turner, Robert F.

• ISBN13: 9781594602061
• ISBN10: 1594602069
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-01-01
• Publisher: Carolina Academic Press

Summary

To Oppose Any Foe is a compilation of essays on the historical, legal, and contemporary legacy of the Vietnam War that challenges much of the conventional wisdom surrounding that watershed conflict. The book addresses the aftershocks and consequences of America's ill-fated intervention in Vietnam, from the Cambodian killing fields to nation-building in Somalia to evolving legal thinking on war crimes. The last U.S. helicopter left Saigon over three decades ago, but the Vietnam War still haunts the American memory. It lingers as one of America's most stinging foreign policy failures, prompting numerous attempts to draw lessons from the experience. These essays demonstrate that the idealism underlying the Vietnam War, which was trumpeted by President John F. Kennedy's inaugural pledge to "oppose any foe" of liberty, resonates to this day as America engages in another "long, twilight struggle" against global terrorism in the post-September 11 world."A remarkable work . . . that will contribute to a more mature and balanced perspective on the tragedy of Vietnam."-Professor James MacGregor Burns, Williams College (emeritus)

Author Biography

John Norton Moore is the Director of both the Center for Oceans Law and Policy and the Center for National Security Law and is the Walter L. Brown Professor of Law at the University of Virginia. Robert F. Turner is the Associate Director at the Center for National Security Law, University of Virginia School of Law. Ross A. Fisher is an attorney with Kaye Scholer LLP.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xvii
ABOUT THE EDITORS	xix
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS	xxiii
HISTORICAL
The Kennedy Administration and the Overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem: What Happened, Why Did It Happen, and Was It a Good Idea?	3	(74)
Ross A. Fisher
A War Worth Fighting: How the United States Military Presence in Indochina From 1965 to 1975 Preserved Global Democratic Security	77	(82)
Michael A. McCann
The Debate Over Cease-Fire Violations in Vietnam, 1973-1975: Congress and the Myth That Nixon and Thieu Sabotaged the Paris Agreement	159	(46)
Mark H. Hamer
The Khmer Rouge: An Analysis of One of the World's Most Brutal Regimes	205	(32)
Michael Charles Rakower
The Ideology of the Khmer Rouge: Intellectual Origins of the Kampuchean Revolution	237	(38)
John H. Raleigh
The Third Indochina War: A Case Study on the Vietnamese Invasion of Cambodia	275	(54)
Benjamin E. Kringer
LEGAL
The Long, Slow Struggle: An Analysis of the Legal Advice at the Beginning of the Vietnam War	329	(44)
Lieutenant Colonel Ronald R. Ratton
Naval Interception Operations During the Indochina War: Lessons for Naval Interception Operations Today	373	(42)
Captain Jane G. Dalton
No More My Lais: Reshaping the Law of Command Responsibility	415	(58)
Hiren P. Patel
CONTEMPORARY
Anatomy of a Failure: The Silencing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Adoption of Gradualism	473	(36)
Gary R. Lawson, II
U.S. Intervention in Somalia: A Reprise of America's Failure in Vietnam	509	(72)
Major Brian Allan Hughes
INDEX	581