4 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
use, racial problems, fragginq, and, in at least several cases, even
mutinous disregard of orders. It is impcrtant, not to ,,nderestimate the
strength and staying power of an institution as large and as well established
,•s the Army,
but it is significant when a person as well placed and
generally cautious as McGeorge Bundy declared, In My 1971, that "Extrication
from Vietnam is now the necessary precondition of the renewal of the
US Army as an institution." 6/
1. Leadership
The causes of .hese problems were manifold, with tb~e most important
probably being the frustrations inherent in a prolonged withdrawal
from an inconcILsive and politically complicated military campaign. 7/
Most sour'ces agreo, though, that they wvere aggravated, and at least partly
caused, by a failure in leadership at various levels of authority. At one
level, this involved the political &nd strategic failures of nationai,
political and military leaders including a succession of presidents--i.e.,
the type of failure which,
in Halberstam's opinion, created a "bad" war.
Similarly, General Westmoreland complained about civilian bureaucrats who
lacked the "special knowledge" to run a war but insisted on tryii.g; others
have concluded that "the special knowledge that Westmoreland ana most of
his subordinates had equipped them poorly to understand thp political and
social dynamics of the war in Vietnam." 8/ Be all of this as it may, and
there is certainly some truth in each of these charges of inadequate
leadership, this chLpter Focuses on the more specific failure in military
leadership that directly affected the combat
Vietnei,.
performance of trooas in
Inadequate leadership can, and in some cases did, result in
:,oorty pl;rined operaLions and imprecise orders. It can also negatively
affect the morale arvd pzy':i0oiogical well-being oF troops and create an
environment conducive to discipline problems, as was documented in t.he
"Peers Report." 9/ What is more, instances of atrocities committed by US
trnops in Vietnam--My Lai being the most notable example--had,
without exception, the common thread of weak leadership. 10/
virtually
In Vietnam ab
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- YZ