Thursday, May 11, 2006
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
Eleven Lessons from the Life
of Robert S. McNamara
Errol Morris's Oscar-winning 2003 documentary
This brilliant work by director Morris is the
stuff of life. And death. It arouses the most basic moral and
immoral questions of being human through an enormously complex
and yet simple man, Robert Strange McNamara. It seems no
coincidence, his middle name, as we get to know him in all his
cleverness and contradictions. Morris subtly illuminates,
literally through McNamara's eyes, what it means to have power
over life and death.
When Robert Strange McNamara ran the Vietnam War as secretary of
defense from 1961 to 1968, he let it be known that he had all
the answers, and that those who didn't agree with him were not
as smart nor as well informed as he was. After being forced to
resign in 1968, McNamara refused to discuss the Vietnam War
until his book, In Retrospect, was published in 1995. In
that controversial apologia, he allowed that he "made mistakes"
in Vietnam, but stressed that every other top official in
Washington did as well and that he based his policies on
incorrect information supplied by the military.
defense from 1961 to 1968, he let it be known that he had all
the answers, and that those who didn't agree with him were not
as smart nor as well informed as he was. After being forced to
resign in 1968, McNamara refused to discuss the Vietnam War
until his book, In Retrospect, was published in 1995. In
that controversial apologia, he allowed that he "made mistakes"
in Vietnam, but stressed that every other top official in
Washington did as well and that he based his policies on
incorrect information supplied by the military.
