LESSONS IN DISASTER
McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam
By Gordon M. Goldstein
"Bundy never believed in negotiations with the Vietcong or the North Vietnamese. This, coupled with his enduring faith in the value of military force in almost any terrain or circumstance, were his greatest errors. They contributed to a tragic failure. With the nation now about to inaugurate a new president committed to withdraw combat troops from Iraq and succeed in Afghanistan, the lessons of Vietnam are still relevant. McGeorge Bundy’s story, of early brilliance and a late-in-life search for the truth about himself and the war, is an extraordinary cautionary tale for all Americans."
Richard Holbrooke, a former United States ambassador to the United Nations, worked in Vietnam and participated in the Johnson White House’s special Vietnam Task Force.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/books/review/Holbrooke-t.html?ref=books