Robert McNamara commentary on the Cuban missile crisis

[WKaliberr]

you fucking crook and pussy McNamara! war criminal

[Neroscot]

Yes Sir, Crimes and sins are the evidence of war !

[bogglerful]

Too bad the fellow who attempted to throw McNamara over the side of the cruise ship didn't succeed. May you burn in hell McNamara for all the conscripted young men, some just teenagers, that you sent to their deaths in Vietnam.

[ElBarto3131]

Where's his commentary on the Pentagon Zombie Crisis?

[chakadoodledoo]

Didnt this dude fight some zombies in the Pentagon with JFK, Nixon, and Castro? rofl

[gyoza007]

I've watched this doco many times. McNamara says how "rational" all the leaders were. If they were so "rational", how come they got themselves into a situation were they were minutes away from nuclear holocaust? There's nothing rational about Armageddon! They "lucked out"...

[MrYummerz]

GO AHEAD

[greff]

I fear that this is pearls before swine.

[SpartenA]

A chilling thought that in only 15 minutes the world can end... All at the push of a button.. We seriously need a solution to prevent this

[barkulator]

A brilliant movie that everyone should watch over and over again.

[trakkaton]

A war criminal tells us to always improve to become a better war criminal.

[blizzy63]

Did you splice in the nuclear cannon from 'Trinity and Beyond' at 0:59 ?

[angryseraph]

Interesting to contrast McNamara with Rumsfeld, i.e. a brilliant, candid guy who made big mistakes versus an arrogant moron.

[angryseraph]

I'm a college English prof and I've shown "Fog of War" quite a few times to my classes. As much as I disagree with some of McNamara's views, nobody can deny that he was brilliant and I appreciate his candor and the lessons--learned from his mistakes--that he wanted to pass on to the next generation. I think everyone should see this.

[ralexlu]

I love Star Wars Music!

[PaulUmbarger]

02:23 - A yellow screen flash? What the heck is that? Subliminal msseges gone bad? LOL!

[rudeboyjohn]

I think it was a Coca Cola ad!

[PaulUmbarger]

LOL!

[GaiusIuliusTaberna]

calling him a war criminal is totally absurd, criticizing him in retrospect is easy. I defy anyone to deal with the situations he was presented with and come to a conclusion that wouldn't be considered wrong by at least one point of view. I don't agree with all of the things the man did, but he's most certainly not a criminal. He did his job the best way he knew how and that is all anyone can expect.

[paddyleblanc]

He offered the opinion that both and Curtis LeMay would have been tried as war criminals had the Axis won WWII.

[paddyleblanc]

A self confessed war criminal leaves the world, good riddance.

[MuslimApostate]

says the ignorant whitetrash hippy. It will be good riddence when whitetrash like yourself are gassed and go the way of the dodo.

[paddyleblanc]

LOL. Gassed by Jove! Thanks for that Herr Himmler. BTW: it is spelled: 'riddance' and the SELF CONFESSED war criminal was 'McNamara' you twit.

[MuslimApostate]

well english isn't my first language and i doupt you could do any better speaking a second one. And this war criminal you speak if you listen tries to explain that he had know real say in what happened and yet still has the balls to say he was wrong for going along with it. Something most policians would never do in a million years. And since i'm mostly asian and only want annoying white hippy twats like yourself gassed that hardly makes me a nazi:)))

[paddyleblanc]

Actually I do speak a second language - fluently.

Perhaps as a 'mostly Asian...want annoying white hippy ' it doesnt make you a nazi - but it certainly makes you a 5 star, knuckle dragging half witted cretin.

[bbnemesis123]

My father was born 1927. My father served in the army from the end of WWII(1944) to 2 tours of Vietnam(1976). My father past away in 1999. Robert McNamara and Henry Kissinger are the BIGGEST pieces of shit ever. My father told me stories about both of those dirtbags. Both of those dirtbags killed more U.S troops than the Vietcong did.

RIP McNamara my ass!

BURN IN HELL MCNAMARA!

[nitzwalsh86]

That's all they are. Stories. Robert McNamara was a decent man serving democratically elected presidents, no wanting butcher, nothing more than, in his own words, a commander rendered incompetent by his own experiences; experiences the nation demanded he have.

[bbnemesis123]

Did you serve 2 tours in Vietnam? My father did. Just stories? You are friggin moron. You don't know McNamara except for what little you see on video. My father served 2 TOURS IN VIETNAM, YOU IDIOT nitzwalsh86. My father received orders from him. You don't know SHIT, nitzwalsh86. McNamara and Kissinger TRIED to send UN-ARMED SOLDIERS to purposely get caught by the Vietcong. The soldiers who got the orders said "HELL NO".

nitzwalsh86, you and McNamara can both BURN IN HELL.

[MuslimApostate]

heywhat do you want from the man? If your father diddn't want to sere he could have left US soil. Mcnamera was only doing what he was told as he states and is one of the few politicians ive seen who at least has the balls to admit they have blood on there hands. And guess what alot of others served in nam and alot diddn't even get to go home so go cry me a damn river cause ya sound like yet another rich bitch white hippy.

[Wolf1354]

RIP

[bendutta2008]

sad news.

rip

[willtrib]

Robert S. Mcnamara; the architect of the Vietnan war is dead.

Walton S. Tissot wrote a interesting tonka about him, simply called Robert Mcnamara it is google- able. He is good!

[SphinctersForever]

I understand what he is saying perfectly, but really, it strongly convinces me that we need our military more than ever. We definitely need to be ready to remove the teeth from rogue nuclear nations, and perhaps be able to do this on two fronts simultaneously.  Nuclear weapons probably won't be necessary or desirable, but high-tech conventional weapons and new less-conventional ones will be essential. And giving our enemies comfort and "endless diplomacy" is out of the question.

[Hickey66]

Egotist.

[nitzwalsh86]

Like any human being driven to lead, yes, he is a self-made man in awe of his creator.

[JoelD311]

"Kennedy was rational, Kruschev was rational, Castro was rational." Fine, but today we ARE NOT dealing with rational people in dealing with the insurgency in the middle east, and they ARE going to have nuclear weapons soon and they WILL use them and because they are NOT rational. So how do you deal with that? We nuke them first. McNamara is talking about the past and I'm talking about now. We need to eliminate the threats in the middle east with utter prejudice.

Joel

[dsenerdem]

Joel, you have not understood a single thing about what Mcnamara is saying. He is pointing out that even the rational people led their nations to the edge of war. He says that there are nuclear bombs ready to launch in 15 minutes, in the hands of individuals like you and me. That is catastrophic as human fallibility and nuclear bombs do not form a good combination as he remarks.

[dsenerdem]

The lesson here is that the enemies will change; be it USSR in the past, or (in your opinion) M.E. today or, say, China in the future. Give a nuclear bomb in your hands and you prove McNamara's point that human miscalculation would be the end of all of us when you "nuke", whatever the circumstances may be. If you are so keen about US' homeland security, then ask why still 9/11 is nothing more than a political propaganda for Republicans while the mystery is still not solved 7 years on.

[dsenerdem]

Also bear in mind that those "nuke"s come out of US factories (ex. Lockheed Martin) since US is world's biggest weapon dealer and that should obviously hit US back at some time.

[MuslimApostate]

actually your wrong on that as russia overtook the US almost 5 yrs ago as worlds largest exporter of weapons.

[kdixon7783]

You have to believe that knowone has all the answers.

[eldoradoreefgold]

the end conclusion i come to is this bastard was responsible for the deaths of 4 million non combatant asian people and he doesn't even get it yet!his simple lies about the non-existent "gulf of tonkin incident"enveloped the world in conflict,drug addiction,murders,assassinatio­ns and death the world could have well done without!he even allowed john kennedy to be killed to further his own career and the vietnam war extremities!he flew to hawaii with jfk's staff to await his death by LBJ/HOOVER!!

[merustproof289]

yeah, but wasnt it worth it? the soviets lost in the end. the united states and the world is free. be thankful

[MuslimApostate]

then your conclusions need fine tuning and i suggest you stop listening to loonies like alex jones who have already admitted here in asia they are conning you conspiracy nuts.

[cubic3x]

they will respond to USA, if USA attack Iran. They will attack where US expect the least - in the cities, by disproportional means.

[exenrontexas]

Sadly those responsible for that will not be the one's paying for it. The NEOCONS will be protected, saved and preserved from any retributions for their actions while the PEOPLES of both nations will pay a heavy price. THAT is precisely what McNamara is saying.

[Valkbg]

Actually the highest one can get is 25MT and it will be big and heavy.The plain that was carrying "Ivan" had to be remodeled to carry it.And how did they film the trees,the vehicles when the blast wave stroke?

[warrencurrier]

we are in Iraq because we NEED to have things unstable. That's how you get business done. DE-stabalize that theater

[Rhenoism]

The big problem with the US is it's become too successful. Middle class people have become too rich and have decided to outsource labor, so the lower classes have no opportunities. The middle class has pulled up the ladder that itself climbed. How do we shake the money tree and pick the pockets of the middle class? That's the 40-trillion-dollar question.

[sexyjimmyface69]

We're in Iraq so some Americans can get rich.

[Rhenoism]

True. And so some countries can be deprived of cheap oil and thus stay poor.

[Rhenoism]

Ahh. Here it is. Check out 3:05. The US DID build and test a bomb that was bigger than Czar Bomba.

Nah. Nations are controlled by elites, and the elites prevented nuclear war. It wasn't luck.

[CossieKid]

Rhenoism, your'e probably very right.

[Rhenoism]

Hmmm. Maybe I'm not, though. The "they" may be the Soviets. Damn vague pronouns!

[seek6289]

@CossieKid Such a broad answer blaming everything on elites. I blame everyone for not doing their own part in fighting the good fight. People feel as if they're helpless to prevent bad things in government or the world. What a bunch of bull shit! If Americans could defeat the English Empire 250 years ago we can defeat the rampant corruption and greed that now plagues our nation..

[radio187]

I believe that they built a bomb they thought would be 100 MT but didn't get the projected yield out of it. If they did build and successfully test a 100 MT bomb, it has remained classified, because they won't admit it.

[johnthebull]

@Rhenoism The world is rudderless.

[ESP1EMG]

@Rhenoism umm you say that like its news? the soviets were bent on world domination. the US was preserving democracy and promoting peace. because of that we had to have the military advantage. and we DID. US always lead the USSR. the entire war from 1954-1974 the US had the bigger guns.

the soviets won many battles (first to space etc.) but the US won the war

[RivetAmber]

@Rhenoism I think he meant the urss did, after all Tsar Bomb design was a 100 megaton, but they tested a scaled down version. Maybe he forgot the actual yield

[RivetAmber]

@Rhenoism I think he meant the urss did, after all Tsar Bomb was a 100 megaton design, but they fired only a scaled down version. Maybe he forgot the actual yield

[gintraum]

@Rhenoism Oh Please. That IS the Tsar Bomba, look at pictures of the device than you look at the video and the device. Then maybe you should look on how the interior of a Tupolev looks because that is a Tupolev 95 also known as "The Bear" which was a strategic Soviet bomber. For fuck sake get your shitty facts right next time you try to be a smartass

[nipponese]

@Rhenoism So who are the elites?

[charms71]

@Rhenoism no, i believe that was the Russians.

[oak71]

Yes but the difference was the dems hold there own accountable. Why do you think LBJ didn't run for re-election in '68? He was pressured out by his own party. The neo con republicans of today do not have the will to oppose Bush/Cheney. Neither do the democrats of today, sadly enough.

[cthulhucallsu]

I must own this documentary. I saw it on sundance and it blew my mind! Thanks for posting it.

[CossieKid]

I posted this video because of its overall relevance to current nuclear attitudes, not to enrage debate about the track records of the individuals involved. if it starts a debate on such issues, fair enough.

[buddhatikkigod]

silicon macnamara was in charge a long time ago were talking about whats happening now. And right now Bush is costing America HUGE with his actions and lies. Please tell me why we are in Iraq

[CossieKid]

Yes it is, I wanted to encapsulate what I thought the overall message of the documentary was into a few minutes. Thankyou for the recommendation.

[KevinKevin426]

FYI - this is from an excellent documentary called "Fog of War" from Errol Morris

Definantly worth a look