Salted Peanuts footnote

Henry Kissinger...

"Withdrawal of U.S. troops will become like salted peanuts to the American public; the more U.S. troops come home, the more will be demanded," he wrote.

The policy of "Vietnamization," turning the fight over to the South Vietnamese military, Kissinger wrote, might increase pressure to end the war because the American public wanted a quick resolution. Troop withdrawals would only encourage the enemy. "It will become harder and harder to maintain the morale of those who remain, not to speak of their mothers."

Great little factoid from Woodward's book.

Dr Hadar's post captures the moment with his usual economy of words.

The Salted Peanuts Model of Troop Withdrawal.

Someone should tell Kissinger that he needs to adapt to the age of diet freaks and come up with cool metaphors (Survivor, Paris Hilton, iPod,etc.) In any case, I'm not sure why Kissinger didn't use something more simple and classic involving addictions, say alcoholism. Like in "Withdrawal of U.S. troops will become like alcohol to Christopher Hitchens; the more U.S. troops come home, the more will be demanded." Christopher Hitchens being now Dr. K's close ideological pal.