On 2/20/2010 11:50 AM, Roger Conroy wrote:
Who first said, "If you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds will
follow"?

It's been attributed to a whole range of different people, from John
Wayne, to General Sheridan, to LBJ, to Chuck Colson, to Teddy Roosevelt
(not in a million years would he say that; he used to immediately
dismiss anyone from his presence who would use hard language in public),
to John Adams (did they call testicles "balls" way back then?) to a
Green Berets officer during Vietnam, to a Marine officer during the
same...and that last one sounds exactly right to me...and if some Marine
didn't say it, he certainly should have. :-)
I was thinking more of "winning the battle for hearts and minds" that
LBJ used as a description of the Vietnam War; I suspect the "by the
balls" remark was a response to that.
Here's our version of the Soviet Afghanistan handbook, in this case a
WWII handbook for American troops in Iraq:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=12637899
You can read or download it he
http://www.archive.org/details/AShortGuideToIraq_175

Pat