Evening star., 1951-05-05


Davis, Defense Department Gel
script.
troops, bomb Chinese Communist
bases In Manchuria and blockade
Communist China"
The very next paragraph says:
"At the same time, the Ohio
Senator declared that the cost of
maintaining an armed force of
3.5 million men indefinitely could
wreck the American economy. He
called for a reduction of a half a
million in the United States armed
forces objective and $40 billion
cut in the American mobilization
budget"
I know very little about American
military matters, but those two
statements seem to be absolutely
contradictory, that you can't do
both.
A Political Question.
i Gen. MacArthur-I said when !
addressed this august body that /
wasn't going to be drawn into poll
tics, and I am not. I believe that
is as much of political question
as it is anything elese.
Senator Fulbright-I notice, Gen.
eral, you are careful to say that
Iyou have confidence in the profess
Isional skill of the Joint Chiefs OF
staff. Does that mean you do not
have confidence in their personal
Integrity?
I Gen. MacArthur-Not at all.
Senator Fulbright-Well, do you
have confidence in the integrity OF
Gen. Bradley?
Gen. MacArthur-Completely.
| Senator Fulbright- You are
aware of the fact that >. Senator
Taft says he has no confidence in
Gen. Bradley?
Gen. MacArthur-Senator, I guess
this is free country Every fellow
can have his own opinion.
Senator Fulbright-Do you think
that Gen. Bradley would lend him.
self to an arrangement by which
he states things in public in which
he did not believe?
| Gen. MacArthur-I would not be-
lieve it under any consideration.
| Senator Fulbright-. The Chi
nese have proved themselves to be
a very stubborn people. Being
such large country and having
been so difficult for highly mech
anized army to to subdue, I do not
see why we could do it. AS I un-
derstand, the japanese had air
planes, had good airplanes; they
had complete freedom and domina-
ton of the air; and yet they were
not able in 13 years, approximately,
maybe IS, they were not able to
Isubdue it.
I was wondering if the very prim-
itive character of the Chinese is
not in this case perhaps of great
defensive value to them, that you
! cannot get at them to destroy them
like you could if it was highly in
dustrialized that perhaps while
they have no offensive power be-
yond their immediate periphery, at
the same time they are extremely
difficult to destroy because their
power is not concentrated.
Gen. MacArthur-You only have
to destroy, Senator, their poten-
tiality to maintain an army on
foreign soil in North Korea. When
you destroy their power to build
the guns, the munitions, to supply
the food for an aggressive army
that way, they will have to cease
utilizing that aggressive army.
Senator Fullbright-I understood
they do not have that power now,
General; these things come from
Russia; they do not have power to
make big guns or any kind of guns,
maybe, other than pistols, do they?
Gen. MacArthur-They have the
power to make what equipment they
are using, Senator which we
are not able to overcome with our
forces in Korea.
Now, the whole process of mod
ern war depends upon the logistical
potential of supplying your troops,
feeding them. giving them the nee
essary munitions, all of the intri-
cate paraphernalia that modern
armies have to use on the battle
field. The capacity of China along
those lines is very limited.
1t is country of poverty. The
slightest dislocation in their normal
processes of distribution causes the
greatest convulsions in various Sec
tions of Chinese society. =.
Vulnerable to Blockade.
They are peculiarly vulnerable to
the process of blockade, and the
process of internal disruption by
bombing
The minute you apply those fac
tors, it becomes logistically more
difficult, probably impossible, for
them to maintain foreign army
on the march.
A very modest effort, military
effort, on our part, I believe, will
have an excellent chance of bring
ing to an end the Korean slaughter.
Senator Fulbright-. Certainly
If we should accept your basic phil
'osophy of war, and that is to pro-
Iceed to victory without any dilly-
dallying along, without any what
you call appeasement, without any,
thing short of a decisive victory,
then there is no stopping point once
we become committed, and then
what happens to us, that is to my
own thinking, is that am a little
, more worried about Russia not COM
ling in than I am of her coming in
) in China, because if we become
!; committed there, it seems to me she
! really is given free hand in Europe
and in the rest of the world, the
Middle East and Europe if we really
become committed to the point of
} having to supply very large forces
,of ground troops, and particularly
: air power. That is what really
botherS us.
Gen. MacArthur-The alternative.
Senator, is to sacrifice thousands and
l thousands and thousands of Ameri-
5 can boys month after month after
month ...