Robert McNamara dies... RIP - TranceAddict Forums

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-- Robert McNamara dies... RIP

Posted by Joss Weatherby on Jul-06-2009 15:40:

Robert McNamara dies... RIP

http://www.reuters.com/article/poli...E56531C20090706

Funny sorta for me, as I was just thinking yesterday while listening to something on NPR that mentioned him "he is still alive?!"

Posted by D-res on Jul-06-2009 19:27:

good riddance

Posted by NeoPhono on Jul-06-2009 19:54:

quote:
Originally posted by D-res
good riddance

Stay classy.

Posted by D-res on Jul-06-2009 21:33:

quote:
Originally posted by NeoPhono
Stay classy.

San Diego?

Posted by NeoPhono on Jul-06-2009 22:52:

quote:
Originally posted by D-res
San Diego?

Looking more like Milwaukee.

Posted by Magnetonium on Jul-06-2009 23:18:

RIP McNamara. The guy was a mixed bag for me. At first I despised him, his political direction especially, but he was such a brilliant and successful person all in all, without getting too much into detail.

I started to respect McNamara after watching a documentary called "The Fog Of War". I thought it was brilliant, I strongly recommend it. Its not too liberal either, just a lot of interviewing with Robert on WW2, Vietnam War, politics, his life, etc.

As a matter of a fact, now that you've mentioned him, I am going to dust off the DVD and watch it, its been a while.

Posted by thedoggyworld on Jul-07-2009 02:15:

Good movie but

He was one of those responsible for Vietnam and served under Nixon -- a Republican.

Posted by thedoggyworld on Jul-07-2009 02:17:

I'll have to go back and watch it also. I enjoyed it at the time but I'm sure I would get more out if it now. It was only released sometime around 2003.

Posted by tathi on Jul-07-2009 10:43:

quote:
Originally posted by Magnetonium

RIP McNamara. The guy was a mixed bag for me. At first I despised him, his political direction especially, but he was such a brilliant and successful person all in all, without getting too much into detail.

I started to respect McNamara after watching a documentary called "The Fog Of War". I thought it was brilliant, I strongly recommend it. Its not too liberal either, just a lot of interviewing with Robert on WW2, Vietnam War, politics, his life, etc.

i agree, i thought he was a war criminal but my perspective on him and history completely changed when i watched The Fog of War

my god its one of the most amazing docos ever created... highly recommended for anyone here regardless of what your political affiliation is...Mcnamara explains why there should be "rules of war" like proportionality, etc..

and its interesting to think of where the world would be if we didn't have someone like Mcnamara keeping psychopaths in the military machine like General Curtis Lemay (sp?) in check...

can someone post a google video link to fog of war here??

Posted by Magnetonium on Jul-07-2009 14:43:

Re: Good movie but

quote:
Originally posted by thedoggyworld
He was one of those responsible for Vietnam and served under Nixon -- a Republican.

Ummmm ... he didn't serve under Nixon. He was at the World Bank by then. You outta watch the movie again

He was against the war at first, and listening to the actual audio archive tapes (in the movie), he was recommending to Kennedy to pull the early "advisors" out, but then things changed drastically and McNamara had to go with the Presidents ... though in the end he disagreed with Johnson, and thats what led to his end in the Pentagon. Although he is partially responsible for the Vietnam mess, even he acknowledges it.

Posted by Magnetonium on Jul-07-2009 14:50:

Watch the full documentary on Google.

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?do...462752804&hl=en

Posted by Damerchi on Jul-07-2009 21:47:

quote:
Originally posted by Magnetonium

Watch the full documentary on Google.

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?do...462752804&hl=en

I was starting this doco, and was 50 50 as to whether i should watch the whole thing. Then at 1:34, it said music by Phillip glass (ive been meaning to check out more of his stuff)...2 birds with one stone!

Posted by D-res on Jul-08-2009 07:13:

His aggressive, and ultimately pervasive philosophy have influenced the business world in a way that does little more than to enlarge the wealth gap and continue, if not expand exponentially the exploitation of the third world.

Posted by tathi on Jul-08-2009 10:01:

quote:
Originally posted by DJ Damerchi
I was starting this doco, and was 50 50 as to whether i should watch the whole thing. Then at 1:34, it said music by Phillip glass (ive been meaning to check out more of his stuff)...2 birds with one stone!

the music is amazing... what were your thoughts on the doco?

Posted by Damerchi on Jul-08-2009 19:06:

quote:
Originally posted by tathi
the music is amazing... what were your thoughts on the doco?

erm..my middle name is strange.

dont worry just tell me!

no, my name is Robert Strange Mcnamara. I lold!

I really enjoyed the compilation of the tape material in his discussions with Johnson and Kennedy. You could really tell that Kennedy was close to his heart, and his world was shattered after his assasination. People say he was not willing to admit his mistakes, but he was very open about admitting his fuckups. It was interesting to note that the world condemns nucleur/bio/chem warfare, but when you fire bomb tokyo and kill 100 000 people in one night then it is somehow kosher(i think he was pointing out the discrepancy as to what is considered acceptable methods of warfare)

I didn't know that he was played a pioneering role in the seatbelt-good stuff. We should remember the great things that he did, most notably stopping a nucleur showdown several times under immense pressure.

oh and the music definately enhanced the experience.

Posted by pmoisse on Jul-11-2009 17:57:

Fog of War was a great doc. Thanks for posting the link, I'll have to watch it again one of these days.

Good on him for owning up to his "mistakes"/ internal challenges regarding waging war etc. I found it quite honest and refreshing.