Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Macnamara's Advice to Bush, One War Criminal to Another.....

roachboy · 05-10-2005, 09:06 AM

macnamara has been interested in turning himself into a kind of elder statesman for years--the fog of war is part of that.
but you also see in that film that macnamara is only really forthcoming about questions to do with real/potential war crimes when there is obviously someone else to blame for it: the firebombing of tokyo is one such example: the acceleration of american activities in vietnam as a function of the kennedy assassination is another. when it comes to agent orange, in the film macnamara is entirely evasive.

it is interesting to see in the above edito what macnamara talks about and what he does not talk about. he certainly is in a position to talk about the question of nuclear war. it is certainly strange to find oneself reading an edito from this guy and agreeing with it. kinda makes you feel dirty. but there we are: it is from the experience of the cuban missle crisis that macnamara can talk about how easy it is, given the correct circumstances--to come very very close to nuclear war. i do not think the bush people have the faintest idea. the development of a first strike rationale in recent military strategic thinking is one index of this--the absurd, inconsistent positions taken by this administration on the bigger questions of nuclear proliferation on the one hand and american nuclear strategy for itself on the other speak for themselves. this stuff macnamara can talk about.

he could also talk about how easy it can be to rationalize a foul unnecesary colonial war--but he doesnt. he could talk about the various slides one can make once involved--the justification of torture, for example, or the use of napalm or other chemical weapons--this kind of anything goes mentality--but he doesnt. on nukes, macnamara can frame hiself as part of the kennedy administration--on other questions, everything is probably johnson's fault in his mind in any event--but even if this is not true, these qeustions do not allow macnamara to speak as though his hands are clean. such is the way this type of discourse goes.

what is a shame is that i dont see any reason to imagine the administration will take macnamara seriously. perhaps as a function of that particular type of arrogance you see in limited people with seemingly unlimited power.

05-10-2005, 09:06 AM	#14 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	macnamara has been interested in turning himself into a kind of elder statesman for years--the fog of war is part of that. but you also see in that film that macnamara is only really forthcoming about questions to do with real/potential war crimes when there is obviously someone else to blame for it: the firebombing of tokyo is one such example: the acceleration of american activities in vietnam as a function of the kennedy assassination is another. when it comes to agent orange, in the film macnamara is entirely evasive. it is interesting to see in the above edito what macnamara talks about and what he does not talk about. he certainly is in a position to talk about the question of nuclear war. it is certainly strange to find oneself reading an edito from this guy and agreeing with it. kinda makes you feel dirty. but there we are: it is from the experience of the cuban missle crisis that macnamara can talk about how easy it is, given the correct circumstances--to come very very close to nuclear war. i do not think the bush people have the faintest idea. the development of a first strike rationale in recent military strategic thinking is one index of this--the absurd, inconsistent positions taken by this administration on the bigger questions of nuclear proliferation on the one hand and american nuclear strategy for itself on the other speak for themselves. this stuff macnamara can talk about. he could also talk about how easy it can be to rationalize a foul unnecesary colonial war--but he doesnt. he could talk about the various slides one can make once involved--the justification of torture, for example, or the use of napalm or other chemical weapons--this kind of anything goes mentality--but he doesnt. on nukes, macnamara can frame hiself as part of the kennedy administration--on other questions, everything is probably johnson's fault in his mind in any event--but even if this is not true, these qeustions do not allow macnamara to speak as though his hands are clean. such is the way this type of discourse goes. what is a shame is that i dont see any reason to imagine the administration will take macnamara seriously. perhaps as a function of that particular type of arrogance you see in limited people with seemingly unlimited power. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite