Comments on: His resume featured ‘millions’ of deaths, still McNamara retained stature. Why?

By: DICKERSON3870

DICKERSON3870 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:35:14 +0000

SEE: "McNamara's Other Body Count, A Lethal Tenure at the World Bank", By JAMES BOVARD, 07/09/09 (EXCERPT) ...McNamara’s favorite foreign leader was Julius Nyerere, ruler of Tanzania, which received more bank aid per capita than any other country in that decade. In the early 1970s, with World Bank aid and advice, Nyerere sent the Tanzanian army to drive the peasants off their land, burn their huts, load them onto trucks, and take them where the government thought they should live. The peasants were then ordered to build new homes “in neat rows staked out for them by government officials.” Nyerere wanted to curb his countrymen’s individualist and capitalist tendencies and make them easier to control. He even outlawed people’s sleeping in their gardens at night, which meant that monkeys were free to help themselves to their crops. In many cases, the new government villages were far from the farmers’ own lands, and so they simply gave up tilling the land, with the result that hunger in Tanzania soared... ENTIRE ARTICLE - " target="_blank">http://www.counterpunch.org/bovard07092009.html

By: Doppler

Doppler — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:35:06 +0000

Then those powers are corrosive to America's greatness, and need to disempowered.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:10:37 +0000

This mind set won the war for the Allies. Churchill was ruthless in his bombing. Eisenhower was ruthless in his peace. McNamara is their natural extension. We live with their legacy today.

By: LeaNder

LeaNder — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:34:43 +0000

Obviously the passage about Vietnam is the most important part. I honestly wonder how the image of a turned, a repentant McNamara could form. And it is all around me in fact. It's the first thing people say when asked about him. I didn't pay much attention to the leaders, more on the human wrecks I met that returned from Vietnam to stay in Berlin.

By: LeaNder

LeaNder — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:31:46 +0000

Another interesting comparison. I watched Fog of War on YouTube yesterday, its gone now, at one point he smiled proudly reporting that in one night they killed 100.000 Japanse with firebombs. His analysis showed that when the planes were too high they were secure but the hits, the results were also bad. Didn't look like a GO game to me. Brilliant documentary. What I find most frightening about this mindset is that it suggests the Nazi's would have come away with it, if only they had succeeded. I don't find this comforting.

By: anonn

anonn — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:29:09 +0000

The gag order on the USS Liberty survivors is still in effect. Yet here's three of them speaking out 10 months ago, risking jail and steep fine: " target="_blank">http://ussliberty.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/upcomi...

By: Laurie

Laurie — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:28:39 +0000

Yes Sin Nombre. And I believe we ought to use this same attitude that you present when we consider the second world war or the Inquisition or a myriad of other historical events. Certainly they were more complex then we are lead to believe. But at the end of the day we make judgements about them according to our values and that is what the world is doing in the case of the I/P conflict and in regard to Robert McNamara.

By: Onlooker

Onlooker — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:14:49 +0000

Indeed. The Six-Day War was "a turning point in our relationship with Israel," said former ambassador Richard Parker, political counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo in 1967. The war did more than double the size of Israel with captured lands still the focal point of Israeli-Arab turmoil: "Up to that point we had avoided being a major arms supplier to Israel. And afterward, the security of Israel became one of our strategic objectives, which it had never been . . ."

By: Citizen

Citizen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:10:19 +0000

And here's McNamara's legacy regarding his initiation of the USS Liberty coverup, when the tail commenced to wag the dog, which it does down to this day--a vivid description of the birth of Uncle Sam's really "special relationship" with Israel: " target="_blank">http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair1126.html Any MSM articles or TV news channel even mention this aspect of McNamara's legacy? It's actually most relevant to current times.

By: Citizen

Citizen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:43:13 +0000

Here's some additional perspective, comments by three historians on mcNamara's legacy, which made me think, where is today's Daniel Ellsburg? Did Chas Freeman even come close? Will he write a book now that he's been pushed to the curb? Is Carter the only former high government official with any moral intelligence? It's hard to come away from this subject without realizing government is run by a bunch of little Eichmanns, all career firsters (or Israel firsters on that issue): " target="_blank">http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/7/vietnam_war_...