The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

[RainDog]

wiki: a 2003 American documentary film about the life and times of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara as well as illustrating his observations of the nature of modern warfare. The film was directed by Errol Morris and the original score is by Philip Glass.

The title is related to the military phrase "Fog of War", describing the difficulty of making decisions in the midst of conflict.
The film won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature. It was non-competitively screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I saw that when it first came out - excellent documentary.

[RainDog]

2. I was happy to see it's on YouTube

I agree. great. haunting work.

[Gravitycollapse]

3. It's basically a 2 hour apology for McNamara's atrocities.

Wonderfully produced and scored, but total moral garbage. I despise it with every bit of my being.

[deathrind]

4. Excellent film. N/T

[RainDog]

5. Morris is the master of understated irony n/t

[struggle4progress]

6. Thanks for posting: well worth a view

[Brother Buzz]

7. His son, the other Mr. McNamara, is the antithesis of 'Strange' and merits a mention

The other Mr. McNamara

Raised during his father’s war, a Winters organic farmer cultivates fields and minds

20 March 2004

It's barely a footnote in the Errol Morris documentary The Fog of War, but for one brief moment, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara dwells on the toll that the Vietnam War took on his own family life. He matter-of-factly notes that his wife and children were opposed to the war that he directed under the Johnson and Kennedy administrations. Then McNamara explains that the stress became so great for his family that his wife Margaret and teenage son both contracted painful stomach ulcers.

It's a detail that hardly merits a mention. After all, the film is concerned with much more horrible and tragic developments of the mid-20th century: the firebombing of Japan, the near nuclear holocaust of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the millions of deaths in Vietnam.

But that footnote does hint at the lessons one of the other McNamaras drew from the war and social upheaval of the 1960s and early 1970s. For Craig McNamara, the stomach ulcer he developed at age 17 was just the physical manifestation of the confusion and frustration he felt toward a society seriously out of whack.

"I think it came from trying to bridge too many disparate parts of my life," Craig now recalls. An athlete and struggling student, he disagreed profoundly with the U.S. invasion of Vietnam, which to this day is called "Mr. McNamara’s War" by some critics.

<more>

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/other-mr-mcnamara/content?oid=29189

[RainDog]

8. thanks!

interesting life.

It must have been really difficult to be coming-of-age at that time with a parent who was a major power broker for the war. Or, "the" power broker.

"We see what we want to believe"

[drynberg]

9. Thanks for posting, many questions asked were totally evaded by McNamara

Such as: After you left the administration (of Johnson) why didn't you speak out about VietNam? Or, Did you feel guilty for VietNam? I didn't hear my question that kept playing in my mind: Why did you stay on as Sec. of Defense if you were totally against the policy of the USA, that of "Rolling Thunder"? And what about Agent Orange: Mac says he didn't remember if he oked the use of the most killing chemical agent in the history of our planet...What? I tutored two children born after the Vietnam War of a father who dropped thousands of tons of AO, and his two kids who were born supposedly Normal were diagnosed with a unknown form of CP that was seen as caused by this dastardly nasty chemical...and Mac can't remember if he "oked it's use"...wow, that's transparent denial and the whole film was indeed a pathetic attempt to assuage his pulsing guilt. We were totally wrong to jump into another countries civil war and blaming the cold war is total bullshit. We were wrong and he made it happen as much as anyone.

[RainDog]

10. Yeah. That was part of the point, imo. n/t

[Plucketeer]

11. Thanks for posting

It's HELL at the top - no matter how perfect or flawed one is. It's not a place I'd want to be!

[RainDog]

12. I agree it's a huge responsibility

And people in those situations are in bubbles maintained by advisors.

McNamara makes a point when he says he doesn't think Kennedy would've continued a failed policy for so long - and Kennedy's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis would lead me to believe he would've been more willing to negotiate a ceasefire/withdrawal while also making sure the reputation of the U.S. remained intact.

The Vietnam Era has some aspects that demonstrate "the wisdom of crowds" in terms of the protests against policy. Those most invested in the real world application of those policies were most informed about them, and those people said "no more."