". . . the greatest modern example of the banality of evil."

[ensho]

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4879.shtml


The death of Robert McNamara


Former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara may be the greatest modern example of the banality of evil.

He was, in his heyday, a dry, boring man with the appearance of a corporate executive who taught Baptist Sunday School classes.

He was very bright and energetic, but dry and boring, driven by an insane need for success and with no evident ethical standards beyond those associated with the ferociously ambitious.

The United States, under his advice and that of others, such as McGeorge Bundy, created the greatest holocaust since that of World War II.

An estimated 3 million Vietnamese were killed, many of them suffering horrible deaths from napalm and early versions of cluster bombs.

Carpet bombing by B-52s made parts of that poor country resemble the surface of the moon.

Left behind were millions of pounds of the hideous Agent Orange oozing through the ground to cause birth defects for perhaps centuries.
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http://counterpunch.com/


May He Rest in Darkness

McNamara: From the Tokyo Firestorm to the World Bank


Robert McNamara, who died yesterday, July 6, served as Kennedy’s , then as Johnson’s defense secretary. He contributed more than most to the slaughter of 3.4 million Vietnamese (his own estimate). He went on to run the World Bank, where he presided over the impoverishment, eviction from their lands and death of many millions more round the world.
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[Buzz Clik]

1. Boy, this will piss off the Adolf Hitler fans.

[ieoeja]

2. Not to mention the Pol Pot fans. And Mao fans.

I'd have sworn they each killed more.

On the flip side, they didn't give their victims any choice whereas North Vietnam could have ended the killing at any time by simply accepting the independance of the South.


I'll give Stalin a pass here. Most of his killing was done long before WW-II.

[Buzz Clik]

3. So Stalin was pre-modern. Fair enough, but the argument always degenerates:

Somebody claims that some leader was the most evil ever. Next thing you know, we're talking about Dr. No, Charles Manson, and Crabby Appleton. Is it too hard to simply say, "Robert McNamara was a rotten guy" or "Dick Cheney is a bad role model"? They always go right for the top -- so-and-so was the most evil ever.

So many despots, so little time.

[Orsino]

4. Heh. And I guess Palin epitomizes the evil of banality. n/t