Former US Secretary of Defense and 'architect of the Vietnam War' Robert S. McNamara has died at age 93. [more inside]
posted by lullaby on Jul 6, 2009 - 76 comments

Robert McNamara is worried.
posted by threehundredandsixty on May 10, 2005 - 43 comments

In "How to Kill a Country" there's a list of steps:
(1) Destroy the engine of productivity (2) Bury the truth (3) Crush dissent (4) Legislate the impossible (5) Teach hate (6) Scare off foreigners (7) Invade a neighbor (8) Ignore a deadly enemy (9) Commit genocide (10) Blame the imperialists
In "Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara" the lessons list as:
(1) Empathize with your enemy. (2) Rationality will not save us. (3) There's something beyond one's self. (4) Maximize efficiency. (5) Proportionality should be a guideline in war. (6) Get the data. (7) Belief and seeing are both often wrong. (8) Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning. (9) In order to do good you may have to engage in evil. (10) Never say never. (11) You can't change human nature.

Two sides of the same coin?
posted by john on Jan 6, 2004 - 11 comments

Robert McNamara and Fidel Castro met in Cuba last October at a conference on the anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Interesting article about this meeting and the professor who arranged it.
posted by staggernation on Jan 23, 2003 - 7 comments