Charlie Rose - An Appreciation of Robert McNamara

[lokalllize]

He killed zombies in black ops the dudes hard core

[jescarpita7180]

McNamara gets alot of crap for some of the dumb political/military decisions made in Vietnam when it was really the hunk of shit LBJ who mismanaged it.

[johnsammyanfal]

McNamara was a squalid little man. He always reminded me of the Jack Lemmon character in the movie ‘The Apartment’. He turned collusion with his superior into a perverse virtue; giving them everything except his better judgement. And then in the twilight of his career we get this maudlin death bed confession; ‘We were wrong all along’ .The worm eventually turned only to remind everyone that he was truly a worm all along.

[1337gam3r07]

It saddens me that this interview with this great man has only been viewed about 8,000 times.

[R3APERRANGER]

Its easy to critisize this man from our present day FOV, however at the time, he was having to make some of the hardest desicisions imaginable, and he was doing so to combat the impending threat to the free western world. He was a hero.

[HonestObserver]

Aw, he wasn't so bad. McNamara was the one who convinced Johnson to create FOXHOUND after the Boss died in Operation Snake Eater.

[lalulofi]

On October 2nd 1979, Robert McNamara (President of the World Bank) addressed a group of international bankers thus: "We can begin with the most critical problem of all, population growth"..concluding that "..either the current birth rates must come down more quickly, or the death rates must go up...There are, of course, many ways in which the death rates can go up. In a thermonuclear age, we can accomplish it very quickly and decisively"(as indeed they had done in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in1945

[silverbird58]

all this could be so guys , now is thier oil there on the coast of south east asia? and do we need it? / seven ugly sisters

[clickswitchh]

Mcnamara is a war criminal ...

[lanser87]

Was a war criminal. The man is dead.

A very smart man by the way that found himself in a extraordinary circumstances. And the beloved Kennedy through him head long into it.

People love to blame Lyndon, Nixon, and McNamara but the truth is Kennedy started this shit. Not that Kennedy acted in a irrational way when faced with nukes but their is always a reason behind conflict.

[DANNYBARE2]

@lanser87 in a way you could go back further and blame eisenhower for the vietnam war.

[92af]

what year was that interview taken?

[zippyweinstein]

'95

[smitchell1234911]

McNamara was simply part of a machine rember dirt is part of everyday living and there are people reserved to till and toil. Kennedy was also the individual how ordered the assaination of the south vietmanese president at that time. If you have listened to the conversation between or great so called social reformer L.B.J. and McNamara they are truly Haunting and the conversations will allow you freedom to see how goverment manipulates great minds and now of days FREEDOM.

[united1d]

I was in Vietnam war. It's was the worst a human could witness. People died every where, every day. All the noises you heard days and nights were America bombing, artillery, war airplanes roaring over your heads. America war machines were every where in the country. Everyone inhaled good doses of orange agent for years. Robert McNamara was a war criminal no lesser than Japan and Nazi war criminals in World War II. No man in history kill people more than him.

[magisterartium]

And what about Hilter and Stalin?

[makthnife]

@united1d obviously the war has warped your mind. I support all USA troops, the war, Geo. Bush, and history. You are a product of when things go wrong. Was it the chemicals you were exposed to? Maybe you are just ignorant. Either way making statements such as yours wipes clean any respect you could hope to garnish. I guess Roosevelt was a War Criminal as well. Go live where you fought, youll fit in, prob like it more.

[MustacheVerra]

Israel was not threaten by Egypt. Israel wanted that war conquer more land and that's just what they did. You don't to be a genius to figure that out. McNamara was obviously no genius.

[live2paint2001]

He lied to us about the Gulf of Tonkin which really brought us into the war in Vietnam. He later admitted that the Gulf of Tonkin was a complete lie in the documentary "Fog of War." At least he came clean before he died. Bush & Cheney will never admit they lied to us about 9/11.

[p3n15eater]

Ok... you ACTUALLY BELIEVE that there is a government conspiracy behind 9/11? They crashed the goddamn plane into the F-ing towers! What part don't you understand? The US Government is not organized or competent enough to cover up that much. It's laughable that anyone would honestly think that they had conspired to cripple their own economy and kill 4,000 of their best and brightest just so that they could POSSIBLY stir up a war. Laughable... or perhaps a bit sad.

[live2paint2001]

Our government has been lying to the American people for a Long time. I don't believe a word they say. George W. Bush was one of the biggest liars we ever had in the White House. Obama does not seem too much better so far.

[sirTittytwister]

look up, Project Northwoods,...and remember that its The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff suggesting the treasonous crap in it,...truly disturbing.

[SirEMC26]

who said it was the US gov?

9/11 was clearly a jew job

[gunner23]

Mcnamara is a war criminal, a liar and one of the main reason why women and children were slaughtered in vietnam. Gulf of tonkin was an outright lie!

[p3n15eater]

That's not answering the question. I ask for proof and you just through out a second accusation. Go take your whackjob conspiracy theories to Michael Moore. That fat asshole will probably put you in one of his propaganda movies.

[OL55CADDY]

I was ten years old during the Cuban Missile Crises. A very frightening time.

I can understand the mindset McNamara described that pervaded the powers that were: show a sign of force against the Communists no matter what the cost.

With hindsight it's easy to criticize. Fear of nuclear war was everywhere- like a blanket covering the sky.

[narbeg]

An interesting figure at an interesting time to be diplomatic about it.

A war criminal who wasn't alone for sure though.

[Ratzaroony]

McNamara was a true American hero. He may be hated by many because he was Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War, but it takes a very brave man to stand up and list all of the mistakes he made so that others won't make them in the future

[makthnife]

@Ratzaroony AMEN

[hopkins4545]

An Appreciation? Are you joking? A war criminal who set the stage for other war criminals like Cheney.

[CusterFlux]

He's got nothing to loose here, he's telling it as he saw it: call him a devil if you like, but getting the inside scoop on what a guy in his position thinks like is incredible. Some people can't parse that out too bad.

[paddyleblanc]

Dont think his passing will generate a lot of grief. In essence, a self confessed war criminal has left the world.

[creten69]

all people like and want safe lives and nice things,so if others have that then the peoples have to get some too,get some gi hahahahahahahahaha

[acr08807]

hahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!! looooooooooooooooooooooooooool­!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ROTFLMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!­! HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[1140Cecile]

People are quite aware of governments using fear tactics in order to get their citizens to go along with military action but, it appears, McNamara, as well as others in the administration were actually fearful themselves. A large part of this can be associated with the cloak-and-dagger mentality of mistrust, one country to another. Instead of diplomats speaking truthfully to each other, they instead trust their own intelligence agencies to tell them the other country's "true" intentions.

[1140Cecile]

Intelligence agencies, by their very clandestine nature, are looking for the worst possible intentions of their potential adversaries and there's always stuff to dig up. Every country has a whole variety of contingency plans based on a variety of scenarios and some of these, while very, very improbable, can be quite discomforting. So, the intelligence agencies report back on these contingency plans, creating at least some fear, and causing their government to initiate harmful policies.

[bamboozlewatch]

The Errol Morris documentary 'Fog Of War' featuring Robert McNamara is a fascinating look at the man whose decison-making influenced the Cuban Missle Crisis, the Vietnam War, and many other conflicts. One of my favorite docs. Great soundtrack, visuals, and a riveting look at what how McNamara's beliefs have changed over the past few decades. Read the reviews on Amazon and buy or rent a copy. I highly recommend it!

[jak1428]

BURN IN HELL!!!

[Opiman000]

Veerrrrrry interesting.

Thank you for posting this!

I was around 10, living in Canada, in around 1970...

My parents were very anti-McNamara, I recall...but I didn't know much about it then.

I'm curious about what Americans now think of McNamara.

Do they believe his about-face?

Do they blame him?

Do Democrats and Republicans have clearly differing opinions on him?