"The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy" is General Omar Bradley's famous rebuke in his May 15, 1951 Congressional testimony as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the idea of extending the Korean War into China, as proposed by General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of the U.N. forces in Korea before being relieved of command by President Harry Truman on April 11, 1951.[1]
Passages from testimony[edit]
Here is a more complete passage of Bradley's testimony:
I am under no illusion that our present strategy of using means short of total war to achieve our ends and oppose communism is a guarantee that a world war will not be thrust upon us. But a policy of patience and determination without provoking a world war, while we improve our military power, is one which we believe we must continue to follow….
Under present circumstances, we have recommended against enlarging the war from Korea to also include Red China. The course of action often described as a limited war with Red China would increase the risk we are taking by engaging too much of our power in an area that is not the critical strategic prize.
Red China is not the powerful nation seeking to dominate the world. Frankly, in the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this strategy would involve us in the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy.
— From testimony before the Senate Committees on Armed Services and Foreign Relations, May 15, 1951.—Military Situation in the Far East, hearings, 82d Congress, 1st session, part 2, p. 732 (1951).
穀歌翻譯：
1951 年 5 月 15 日，奧馬爾·布拉德利將軍以參謀長聯席會議主席的身份在國會作證時對擴大戰爭的想法提出了著名的譴責：“錯誤的戰爭，在錯誤的地點，錯誤的時間，對付了錯誤的敵人” 1951 年 4 月 11 日，在被哈裏·杜魯門總統解除指揮權之前，駐韓聯合國軍司令道格拉斯·麥克阿瑟將軍提議將朝鮮戰爭引入中國。 [1]
證詞段落
這是布拉德利證詞的更完整段落：
我並不幻想，我們目前使用非全麵戰爭的手段來達到我們的目的和反對共產主義的戰略是世界大戰不會強加於我們的保證。 但是，在我們提高軍事實力的同時，堅持不挑起世界大戰的耐心和果斷政策是我們認為必須繼續遵循的政策……
在目前情況下，我們建議不要把戰爭從朝鮮擴大到把紅色中國也包括在內。 通常被描述為與紅色中國的一場有限戰爭的行動方針會增加我們所承擔的風險，因為我們將過多的力量投入到一個不是關鍵戰略目標的地區。
紅色中國不是稱霸世界的強國。 坦率地說，在參謀長聯席會議看來，這一戰略將使我們卷入錯誤的戰爭、錯誤的地點、錯誤的時間、錯誤的敵人。
—>摘自參議院軍事委員會和外交關係委員會的證詞，1951 年 5 月 15 日。—遠東的軍事形勢，聽證會，第 82 屆國會，第 1 屆會議，第 2 部分，p. 732 (1951)。
