MacNamara’s Band and playing through the Fog of War
Robert Strange MacNamara , US Secretary of Defense in the Vietnam Era, is an interesting figure. In the documentary The Fog of War MacNamara’s insights and experiences cannot fail to impress. We should take to heart his perspectives on certainty, false-certitude and the general uncertainty that is the fog of war - von Clausewitz’ pithy phrase - in our continuing geo-political endeavors. Take a moment to review the lessons and insights listed in the wikipedia article.
September 11th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
I had a similar reaction. Later, though, I wondered whether it really should have been so hard for MacNamara to understand at the time that Vietnamese who opposed the French and then the Americans were mainly motivated by a desire for independence. Among the many opponents of the war, such as John Kenneth Galbraith, it seems to me that many did understand that nationalism was more important than communism as a driving force for the Vietcong. MacNamara and others pushed so hard, for so long, for an escalation of American operations Vietnam war, in the face of much opposition within the administration (including from JFK and Galbraith) and outside it. I’m glad MacNamara has admitted his tragic mistakes, but I think there’s a lot more to it than we learn in “The Fog of War.”
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Link connects to a clip from the film by Errol Morris :
http://snafuprinciple.blogspot.com/2008/02/fog-of-war-redux.html