Strange
July 8, 2009 - by
Ironic news juxtaposition: Monday was the deadliest day in a year for America military forces in Afghanistan . Seven dead. And Robert Strange McNamara died.
When McNamara became president of Ford and then JFK’s Secretary of Defense in rapid succession, all Washington marveled at the power of his intellect. Lyndon Johnson thought McNamara was so smart he wanted him to be his running mate in 1964.
Then Vietnam went to hell.
For the rest of his life, McNamara was torn by guilt and remorse. And America was just torn up.
When American warships exchanged fire with North Vietnamese boats in the Gulf of Tonkin , McNamara told LBJ the intelligence was overwhelming that we were attacked. Later, that proved to be not exactly true. Kind of like the slam-dunk intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s WMDs.
Also later, McNamara said the intelligence underestimated the will of the North Vietnamese to outlast us, no matter how long or how many lives it took.
There are many parallels between JFK and Obama. Obama is the first Senator since Kennedy to be President. He’s cool and smart. He has surrounded himself with smart people. The best and the brightest, if you will.
If we learn one lesson from McNamara, let’s not get carried away by misguided intelligence about faraway lands.
Strange
July 8, 2009/
Ironic news juxtaposition: Monday was the deadliest day in a year for America military forces in Afghanistan . Seven dead. And Robert Strange McNamara died.
When McNamara became president of Ford and then JFK’s Secretary of Defense in rapid succession, all Washington marveled at the power of his intellect. Lyndon Johnson thought McNamara was so smart he wanted him to be his running mate in 1964.
Then Vietnam went to hell.
For the rest of his life, McNamara was torn by guilt and remorse. And America was just torn up.
When American warships exchanged fire with North Vietnamese boats in the Gulf of Tonkin , McNamara told LBJ the intelligence was overwhelming that we were attacked. Later, that proved to be not exactly true. Kind of like the slam-dunk intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s WMDs.
Also later, McNamara said the intelligence underestimated the will of the North Vietnamese to outlast us, no matter how long or how many lives it took.
There are many parallels between JFK and Obama. Obama is the first Senator since Kennedy to be President. He’s cool and smart. He has surrounded himself with smart people. The best and the brightest, if you will.
If we learn one lesson from McNamara, let’s not get carried away by misguided intelligence about faraway lands.