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6 - And You Thought the War Was Hard: Ending the War and Securing the Peace

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2019

Donald Stoker
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Summary

dedicate sufficient forces and use them decisively. In the Korean War, the US failed to grasp opportunities to decisively defeat the enemy and failed to commit forces sufficient to bring about a quick conclusion to the struggle. The result was an attritional stalemate. In both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the US overestimated and misunderstood the effectiveness of airpower. Moreover, the US has also too often failed to understand that winning in a counterinsurgency struggle hinges upon three key factors: gaining the support of the people, eliminating insurgent sanctuaries, and isolating the insurgents from outside support.

Keywords

Strategyassessmentintelligencereassessmentsurprisetimingcoalitionscounterinsurgencyprotracted warnuclear weaponsattrition
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Why America Loses Wars
Limited War and US Strategy from the Korean War to the Present
 , pp. 172 - 220
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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