Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara (C) and General Westmoreland (R), Vietnam Assistance Command Commander talk with General Tee (L) on the condition of the war in Vietnam, September 1965. - AFP file photoI was reading much into Robert McNamara, the US Secretary of Defense whose broad career was overshadowed by his role as key architect of the Vietnam War these few days. Partly because of work, and partly because my visit to Vietnam last year did arouse me intense interests into the Vietnam War.
Robert died on Monday at his home in Washington. He was 93.
I chanced upon this film called The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from Life of Robert S. McNamara. It is a film about Robert and the various difficult lessons he learned about the nature and conduct of modern war.
The "Eleven Lessons" listed in the film are as follows: -
1. Empathize with your enemy
2. Rationality will not save us
3. There's something beyond one's self
4. Maximize efficiency
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war
6. Get the data
7. Belief and seeing are both often wrong
8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil
10. Never say never
11. You can't change human nature
How many lessons can we draw from the eleven lessons above?
Robert's last message to his wife, Diana, was typical, no nonsense, as reported by Washington Post - "No funeral/memorial service" was the way it began.
But he continued, "I leave this earth believing that I have been blessed with a wife, children and friends who have brought me love and happiness beyond compare. Heaven . . . will be to remain in their hearts and memories as warm and close as we were in life."
2 comments:
Nice thoughts, Yan. Thanks for sharing.
Extracted also from Washington Post written by Robert's friend to share with you -
But it was in his interviews with filmmaker Errol Morris, which became the Oscar-winning 2004 documentary "The Fog of War," and during the many conversations he had with students who had seen the film, that he began to find peace with himself.
In the film, McNamara said, "At my age, 85, I'm at an age where I can look back and derive some conclusions about my actions. My rule has been try to learn, try to understand what happened. Develop the lessons and pass them on."
"Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning" was one lesson headlined in the Morris film that has direct application to today. "What makes us omniscient?" asked McNamara, referring to Vietnam but also looking at the world then around him. "Have we a record of omniscience? We are the strongest nation in the world today. I do not believe that we should ever apply that economic, political and military power unilaterally. If we had followed that rule in Vietnam, we wouldn't have been there. None of our allies supported us. Not Japan, not Germany, not Britain or France. If we can't persuade nations with comparable values of the merit of our cause, we'd better reexamine our reasoning."
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What makes a man like McNamara or any other man value his wife and children and family so much?
Admirable man in more ways than we can say.
Thanks for sharing.
May his family be comforted by loving memories.
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