"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).
谷歌翻译：
1951 年 5 月 15 日，奥马尔·布拉德利将军以参谋长联席会议主席的身份在国会作证时对扩大战争的想法提出了著名的谴责：“错误的战争，在错误的地点，错误的时间，对付了错误的敌人” 1951 年 4 月 11 日，在被哈里·杜鲁门总统解除指挥权之前，驻韩联合国军司令道格拉斯·麦克阿瑟将军提议将朝鲜战争引入中国。 [1]
证词段落
这是布拉德利证词的更完整段落：
我并不幻想，我们目前使用非全面战争的手段来达到我们的目的和反对共产主义的战略是世界大战不会强加于我们的保证。 但是，在我们提高军事实力的同时，坚持不挑起世界大战的耐心和果断政策是我们认为必须继续遵循的政策……
在目前情况下，我们建议不要把战争从朝鲜扩大到把红色中国也包括在内。 通常被描述为与红色中国的一场有限战争的行动方针会增加我们所承担的风险，因为我们将过多的力量投入到一个不是关键战略目标的地区。
红色中国不是称霸世界的强国。 坦率地说，在参谋长联席会议看来，这一战略将使我们卷入错误的战争、错误的地点、错误的时间、错误的敌人。
—>摘自参议院军事委员会和外交关系委员会的证词，1951 年 5 月 15 日。—远东的军事形势，听证会，第 82 届国会，第 1 届会议，第 2 部分，p. 732 (1951)。
