There are many discouraging things about the ongoing debate over Vietnam. One is the bewildering tendency of participants to try to rest their case on concepts and arguments that are themselves in question. An example is the frequent reference to "national interest" and "national security" as though they clinched the debate. On close inspection, such terms are found to mislead and becloud.

In the widely acclaimed book, The Limits of Intervention, Town send H copes rests his conclusions on these same dubious notions, His thesis is that the "limits of intervention" are defined for the United States by its "vital national interest."