The butcher of Vietnam
http://www.workers.org/2009/editorials/vietnam_0723/
Published Jul 16, 2009
The death of Robert S. McNamara on July 6 at age 93 gives new meaning
to the old adage that "only the good die young." McNamara was
secretary of defense under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B.
Johnson and was the principal architect of the U.S. war against Vietnam.
As early as 1964 the war was aptly referred to as "McNamara's war,"
which didn't bother McNamara one bit. "I am pleased to be identified
with it, and do whatever I can to win it," he said at the time. (New
York Times, July 6)
He started his ignoble career as a statistical and systems analyst
who became a "Whiz Kid" at Ford Motor Co. and its eventual president.
McNamara was convinced that his analysis of the war proved the U.S.
would conquer Vietnam within a few years.
As the war escalated and he realized the failure of his prediction,
McNamara began to have "deep misgivings" about the war. Although he
realized the futility of the U.S. war in Vietnam as early as 1967, he
kept those thoughts to himself.
McNamara's seven-year tenure as secretary of defense also included
the disastrous "Bay of Pigs" invasion of Cuba and the missile crisis
that nearly led to a nuclear showdown with the Soviet Union. It
included the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965.
Under McNamara's tenure, the war budget and influence of the Pentagon
increased exponentially and increased its domination over the
civilian life of the United States, which continues to this day.
McNamara left the Pentagon to work for 13 years as head of the World
Bank. There he ensured the domination of U.S. capital in
underdeveloped and poor countries around the world, helping to
condemn millions more to lives of poverty and misery.
Despite McNamara's private "misgivings" about the war in Vietnam, the
number of U.S. soldiers dead, missing and wounded went from 7,466 to
more than 100,000 during his watch. (Associated Press, July 6) Over
58,000 GIs ended up dead, with hundreds of thousands more wounded
physically and psychologically.
But by far the greatest damage was to the Vietnamese nation. Over 3
million Vietnamese2 million of them civilianswere killed during the
war. The land was razed by carpet bombing. Napalm and Agent Orange
used by the U.S. destroyed the country's arable land and killed and
maimed millions more people. The deadly effects are manifest even
today, generations later.
McNamara's book "In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam"
was published in 1995. "We of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations
acted according to what we thought were the principles and traditions
of our country. But we were wrong. We were terribly wrong," said
McNamara in an interview prior to the book's release.
The 2003 documentary "The Fog of War" also featured McNamara
ruminating on his moral misgivings about Vietnam. Some even call
McNamara a "liberal" for being so contrite in his later years, but
this is a misguided attribute. He was sorry because he lost. He was
sorry because his statistical analysis left out what history proved:
the will of the Vietnamese people to defeat U.S. imperialism.
McNamara spent his later years being "sorry" while walking free. Did
he voluntarily surrender himself to the Vietnamese people for
prosecution of his many war crimes and crimes against humanity? Did
he denounce the role of the Pentagon in subjugating oppressed peoples
around the globe? Did he lead any anti-war demonstrations?
What the world's people need are not apologies from those who have
exploited and tormented them. They need solidarity from their class
sisters and brothers in the imperialist countries to help overthrow
this vicious system so that the criminal inequality caused by
imperialism can be rectified.
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