Milford chronicle., 1951-04-27
THE MACARTHUR CONTROVERSY


Army Macarthur, our Sympathles are entire
" with the General. Never before has an
American commander had to direct such a
project as our troops became involved in via
the United Nations. General Macarthur was
commanding men who were fighting, suffer
ing wounds and dying at the hands of enc
mics. They were not sitting comfortably in
Lake Success, Washington, London, or Del
hi; they were sent, not by General Mac
Arthur but by President Truman and the
u. N. and they have a right to know what
objective they are there to achieve, or wheth-
er they are in for war ad perpetuum-in
which neither side can ever win, though they
keep on killing and being killed Sometime
ago General Macarthur said fatty that, un-
der the policies imposed upon his command,
it is impossible to conclude the Korean war
that all we can do is hold our own and inf1iCt
maximum possible losses on the enemy while
we husband our own strength as best we can.
A primary strategic goal in any war is to
destroy the enenys sources of supply. In
the Korean War-which is no longer being
waged against the North Koreans but
against the Red Chinese-the supply bases
lie across the border in China. Yet Mac
Arthur could not even send plane across
that border. So the Chinese armies could be
organized and trained and equipped without
fear of attack, and then moved into Korea.
The naval situation in that part of the
world is equally unprecedented. A great
feet, the 7th, is on constant patrol in the
waters between FOrmOSa and the Chinese
mainland. And the task of this fleet is not
to fight Red China, but just the contrary.
The commanding admiral's orders are to pre-
vent Chinese Nationalist troops on FOrnOsa
from. raiding the mainland. So, because of
the presence of American seapOWer off China,
that possible threat to the security of Com
h hoo foH1 no %o%o
Department was, manifestly, seriously dis
turbed when Macarthur publicly stated that
he was willing to meet the enemy commander
in chief in the field and to discuss terms for
ending the bloOdshed. The General was called
down, though the words used were polite and
evasive, as is always the case with man of
his reputation and position. There is nothing
unprecedented in a commander offering to
meet his opposite in the field to discuss a
truce. What is unprecedented is for the pO-
litical authorities who have put a commander
in the field against an enemy to leave him
without any directives that can be translated
into rational military terms. The General is
damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
Another trouble is that most of our allies in
the Korean war are far from enthusiastic.
The bulk of the u. N. countries followed our
lead because they could do nothing else. Bri-
tain is the prime example. Britain doesn't
want to ALLEVIATE Red China. She is offering
Red China various forms of appeasement-
while British soldiers are fighting braveIy
and dying miserably fighting the Red Chi
nesel The idea, Of course, is that war must
be avoided at almost all costs. But to the
soldiers in Korea very real and extremely
bloody war is in process right nOw-as il is
to the commanders, fettered with orders un-
precedented in military history, who must
send them into battle. This is how matters
A. IL L.
regard our present diplomatic and military
policy as being utterly banlrupt-and why
the majority of our citizens side with Mac
Arthur.