In Search of Victory part-7

 1st December 1967,

Dear Diary,

                  The recent years have been tough for us as I, Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense of the United States can understand. The anti-war protests against our involvement in Argentina have strengthened after 1966 and opposition against President Kennedy's policies in the region have been getting support. But still, come what may, we cannot let Latin America slip away from us and supremacy in Latin America and in our immediate neighbourhood must be a foreign policy priority. Over the years communist regimes and communist trained guerrilla outfits have sprung up in the region. Recently a Che Guevara led guerrilla group has gained momentum in Bolivia and has sponsored terrorist attacks in the capital city of La Paz. The group has also provided support to the Peronist regime in South Argentina providing them with weapons and supplies procured from the USSR. Chile under Salvatore Allende has also provided support to the Peronists. This supply trail starts from Santiago in Chile goes through Bolivia and Paraguay to the city of Viedma in South Argentina. That is why it has been a military necessity for us to disrupt that trail. Already we have deployed our forces in Bolivia and have begun bombing Chile to disrupt supplies. We believe that a new technique called weather warfare which involves the cloud seeding along the supply trail to extend the monsoon season in that region and disrupt the supply line. Meanwhile, we have initiated a campaign to change the basic behaviour of the Peronists by gradually bombing South Argentina so that they face heavy casualties and give in. The bombing campaign is meant to strangulate the Peronists from their supplies so that they are forced to surrender.

    Basically what we hope to do with the bombing campaign is to play a psychological game of reward and punishment with the Peronists so that they are forced to play by our rules. We aim to change the psychology of the rebels through this strategy so that they understand that resistance to America is futile and can only end in their death and destruction. This will work as the Peronists like all other humans are rational actors who can be shown reason through force. Therefore the showing of force against them must appeal to their psychology and must change it. I believe that a continuous and graduated bombing campaign in South Argentina will bear fruit. However, we must also rein in North Argentina where General Bolano has been unable to control the Free Argentina Movement, a militant outfit which has been sponsoring attacks against our assets in North Argentina.

    But if we think that Argentina is our only source of worry then we are wrong as we must also retain control of Asia and especially we must increase our hold over Vietnam. The future of Vietnam has again become uncertain after the withdrawal of French forces in 1966 following heavy anti-war protests in France. Then Emperor Ngyuen Ham Suk asked us to intervene and we did it gladly because containing communism in Asia is important for the realization of our foreign policy objectives. Therefore we have Vietnam our top priority in Asia and have sent troops in that country in collaboration with China. We will employ the same strategy there as we employed in Argentina as we think this strategy will be successful. God Bless America!!