Patrick Sheehan

“the progress of violence always reasserted itself. The love of martial life seems to be an unquenchable human instinct”
― Joshua Cooper Ramo, The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It

“Suppose a surgeon and an anesthesiologist could not communicate with each other except through a hospital administrator about a patient on an operating table, he said. “Instead of [an] exchange of information [among] people who are attempting to accomplish a result . . . , we have made it virtually impossible.” Olson went on, “In order to connect the dots someone has got to have knowledge of those various different dots.”
― John Yoo, War by Other Means: An Insider's Account of the War on Terror

“When the tide of combat turned against them or when small units were isolated and in danger of losing their POW’s, the vindictiveness of the North Korean soldier could not be restrained. Men accustomed to torture and summary execution all their lives, both from Japanese and Communist rulers, could not be expected to behave with nicety toward foreign captives. Nor did they.”
― T.R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War: The Classic Military History of the Korean War

“During the early days of the war, the North Korean People’s Army never varied its tactics. It never had any need to do so. Its general maneuver was to press the ROK or American forces closely, engage with them by means of a frontal holding attack, while at the same time turning the enemy flank and infiltrating troops to the enemy rear. Against both ROK’s and United States troops, who were never able to establish a firm battle line, this tactic was ruinous.”
― T.R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War: The Classic Military History of the Korean War