Nation can learn from McNamara's missteps - Daily Breeze

[question everything]

http://www.dailybreeze.com/content/opinion/2062630.html

'The Fog of War" is more education than entertainment. Perhaps that's part of the reason, along with virtually nonexistent promotion, that just a handful of people have seen the Academy Award-winning documentary during its current run. The turnout is unfortunate, for there is much to be learned from the film.

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During 20 hours of interviews, boiled down to a 106-minute film, McNamara provides an inside look at how wars are fought -- and avoided -- how military decisions are made and who makes them. There is fascinating historical footage and tape-recorded Oval Office discussions between McNamara and Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, under whom he served for seven years.

The meat of the film, however, comes not in its review of history but its lessons for the future, presented as the movie's subtitle: "11 Lessons from the Life of Robert McNamara." They ought to be a primer for every general, every defense secretary, every commander in chief. McNamara suggests that lesson No. 1 -- "Empathize with your enemy" -- helped avoid nuclear holocaust during the Cuban missile crisis. But No. 8 -- "Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning" -- was ignored during the buildup and exercise of the Vietnam War. Some of his other cautions -- "Rationality will not save us," "You can't change human nature" and "Get the data" -- apply to both war and peace.

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