11 lessons from Robert McNamara former US Secy of Defense during Vietnam war.

It is more fun criticizing

Rizal Philippines   |   September 20, 2014



The Star Movies at cable tv featured War Foggies which featured Robert Mcnamara, former President  of Ford, former Secy of Defense during the time of Pres John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson

He was more known as the architect of Vietnam war.  He seemed to be have influenced by the thinking of General Ley of the Air Corps (Force) during World War 2.  McNamara was part of the statistical team who analyzed the stats of the bombing runs of the Air Corps.  Ley emphasized efficiency (not in terms of number of enemies - civilian and military target) but in weakening the adversary.  Here the lesson of proportionality was applied.





Morality in war in not about morality per se, but reducing losses of lives and materiel at your side.   Which is moral (cf Patton) losing your armed forces or killing the enemies.  Ths must be understood by the generals in dealing with the terrorists.  

The just war thinking is putting the current war efforts at risk in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the world.

What are the 11 lessons:

hese topics were selected by Errol Morris and highlighted in the film; they were not selected by McNamara.

Empathize with your enemy Rationality will not save us There's something beyond one's self Maximize efficiency Proportionality should be a guideline in war Get the data

Belief and seeing are often both wrong Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil Never say never You can't change human nature

Getting the data is very important.  Having the hard data will set you free.  Because we can have the wrong assumptions (as is assumption about WMD in Iraq - there were none and both the heads of UK and US - Bush were embarrassed that there was no WMD.)

It is important to have accurate and complete grasp of data and facts.

Other wise we will be governed by a mindset which could be wrong, and we would see the numbers that we think are right, we believe in what we think is right and then make wrong conclusion and wrong decision.