No Plan Ever Survives Its First Encounter

I Have Just Returned From Visiting The Marines At The Front, And There Is Not A Finer Fighting Organization In The World!

While No Man In His Right Mind Would Advocate Sending Our Ground Forces Into Continental China, And Such Was Never Given A Thought, The New Situation Did Urgently Demand A Drastic Revision Of Strategic Planning If Our Political Aim Was To Defeat This New Enemy As We Had Defeated The Old.

L Know War As Few Other Men Now Living Know It, And Nothing To Me Is More Revolting. I Have Long Advocated Its Complete Abolition As Its Very Destructiveness On Both Friend And Foe Has Rendered It Useless As A Means Of Settling International Disputes.

It Seems To Me The Worst Possible Concept, Militarily, That We Would Simply Stay There, Resisting Aggression, So-called...it Seems To Me That The Way To "resist Aggression" Is To Destroy The Potentialities Of The Aggressor To Continually Hit You...when You Say, Merely, "we Are Going To Continue To Fight Aggression," That Is Not What The Enemy Is Fighting For. The Enemy Is Fighting For A Very Definite Purpose-to Destroy Our Forces.

Nothing Would Please Me Better Than If They Would Give Me Three Months And Then Attack Here.