Summary: Lessons Of Mcnamara

Superior Essays
Lessons of McNamara
In the last decade, the U.S, acting as a world police, have faced many difficulties such as loss of manpower and firepower, economic damage, ethical conflicts among officials as well as citizens within the country in its relations with insurgents in Middle Eastern countries. Although it seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel to a layman, there is still a chance for the U.S to redeem itself. Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s lessons, which are the importance of empathizing with enemies, considering proportionality, and recognizing that the end justifies the evil means, he had learned from his experience of serving in 1960s provide solutions to the foregoing problems that are also raised in the
…show more content…
Such emphasis on importance of practicing empathy matches with liberalists’ view that empathy is required in international cooperation. Failure to be empathetic, however, can cause the strong to lose and evidences that supports McNamara’s claim can be found in Record’s article. Record first introduces Andrew Mack’s argument. Mack argued “will to fight and prevail” is the ultimate determinant of which side is likely to win. According to Mack, “ for insurgents ‘war’ is total, while for the external power it is necessarily ‘limited’, meaning that weaker side has its country and independence to lose in a war so it fights with everything it has. The stronger, on the other hand, don’t face thread of getting occupied so their will to win is not as strong. Record agrees with Mack’s assessment and further argues that inferior will to win was one of components that caused the U.S to lose Vietnam. “Key Vietnam War players in the Johnson Administration grasped neither the disparity in interests and will that separated the United States and the Vietnamese communities nor its consequences. They could find no reason for the enemy’s tenacity and staying power”, states Record. The U.S officials underestimated …show more content…
He sees war as a means to an end and suggests killing is given but minimization of killing is necessary when trying to do the good. McNamara’s lesson matches with liberalist’ way of thinking because while acknowledging that war and killing people are evil, it emphasized that the spreading democracy as good since democracy could lead to an end of war. In the article, Record doesn’t argue against warfare, but he points out the problems with the way that U.S fights against insurgents in asymmetrical war. Technological advancement allowed the U.S to experience less casualties while inflicting damage to the enemy. Such advancement has negative effect because it increases public’s tolerance for blood incurred. “The same primacy that has yielded conventional deterrence, however has pushed America’s enemies into greater reliance on irregular warfare responses that exposes the limits of conventional primacy”, states Record. Thus, conventional wisdom creates a cycle and doesn’t put definite end to a war. To counteract the cycle, Record doesn’t promote abolition of conventional primacy, but encourages the U.S add new ways of fighting irregular warfare by “creating ground forces dedicated to performing stability and support operations, including counterinsurgency.” McNamara’s lesson is clearly reinforced by Record’s attempt to provide

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The film Hearts and Minds is a documentary made by Peter Davis in 1974 to portray America’s unethical involvement in Vietnam and examine the opinions of many by showing interviews and vivid footages. The film focuses more on those who were against the war than those who supported it. For the U.S. all that mattered was the victory. However, those who were opposed to the war felt that there was no right or reasonable justification for their actions. The real issue illustrated by the film was whether the U.S. wanted to protect the country from communism or to manifest its greatest power in the world by winning another war.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The struggle to maintain hope is often an unavoidable effect of war. Elie Wiesel incorporates this theme in his novel Night by writing,” One more stab to the heart, one more reason to hate, one less reason to live. ”(Wiesel 66) Elie’s quote defines the theme of struggling to keep your head up, and the struggle to have hope. When Elie says,” One less reason to live...” he is explaining that after the events that occurred in the past, or during the war show how those events affect war heroes and give a reason to lose hope.…

    • 1857 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Vietnam, a war based on lies. The Cold War’s increasing belief that the spread of the communist power would mean the end of freedom. "Reality is grim and painful. But it is only a remote echo of the anguish toward which a policy founded on illusion is surely taking us.” -John F. Kennedy.…

    • 1842 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his article “Why Has America Stopped Winning Wars,” Dominic Tierney incorrectly asserts that the United States is in a period of unwinnable wars and that, as such, the United States should plan for battlefield failure and “losing the right way. ”1 He uses multiple fallacies to build his argument, including appeals to emotion, appeals to questionable authority, explaining by naming, and searching for a perfect solution. This leads to the conclusion that the US position as a superpower is a weakness in terms of military engagement. This shortsighted position fails to encompass a holistic view that military engagements do not have to rise to the level of total victory to contribute to overall strategy.…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this case, Proportionality of war, according to McNamara, refers to the comparison of level of damage that had been inflicted on a country and the how much of enemy’s goal has been achieved. He suggests that if the goal of the war has been accomplished, there is no need to further hurt the other nation and its people. In the film, McNamara strongly criticize LeMay’s decision of burning 100,000 people to death when it was evident that Japan was on the brink of defeat . What McNamara had learned from the cruelty of United States foreign policy matches with liberalists’ point of view that expansion of democracy can be achieved through use of military power , and long-term peace can be achieved if the states work cooperatively( 21). He had learned that stopping the bombing would have helped Japan and United States to work together even more effectively on further developing good relationship.…

    • 1285 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    “When I was a kid, we watched the Vietnam War on the six o 'clock news, and it was desensitizing. You felt you were watching a war film; meanwhile you were really watching these guys getting blown to bits,” said Johnny Depp about the Vietnam War. History has a funny way of repeating itself, and people have the funny habit of staying stuck in the past. Many people believe the Vietnam War and the current War on Terrorism is a reflection of this. Some people believe that both of the wars are pointless and that we are wasting American lives for things that do not even involve us, but others think both wars are absolutely necessary and that it is our duty as Americans to take action in order to preserve our freedom.…

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “The broad framework of US foreign policy in the era of the Cold War, as well as other eras, the U.S. must adhere to the bottom line. This means, protecting a constructive investment environment for private business benefits” (Hartman, 2002). In 1981, former Pakistani Dictator and General Mohammed Zia al-Haq, understood US Policy bottom line. In a meeting with William Casey, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the dictator offered Casey with a map of the Near East demonstrating how the Soviet Union occupation is moving towards Iran, the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Sea. General Mohammed proposed that if the US does not interfere, the Soviets would produce great economic disturbance in the region (Hartman).…

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The 1970’s was a controversial time in American history, and the Vietnam conflict was no exception. President, Richard Nixon, in his Cambodian Incursion address, speaks to the American people, and the world about developing situations in Southeast Asia. His intentions are to explain the actions of the North Vietnamese, describe the actions he ordered to counter them, and to give reason for why he is justified in his course of action. Nixon adopts a stern tone in his address to show the world that what the North Vietnamese is doing will not be tolerated, and that his course of action is logical and is in the best interest of not only South Vietnam and the United States, but of Cambodia as well. Nixon begins his address by referencing his report…

    • 1014 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.” – General William Sherman Throughout the expansive, harrowing history of war, the surveillance and manipulation upon the enemy undoubtedly contributes in who becomes the victor.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Along with military, war was a dreadful, but essential part of a country in which, administration, under Reagan, used to escalate the forces of the “enemy” who Reagan places on the Soviet Union. In the prologue, Maddow discusses her thesis on how the old structure of the military being a small and controlled force was in turn, reversed to the opposite of its original structure, which leaves the United States in shambles of a “new post-Cold War” which she says. Maddow also brings up Vietnam, which, like she states, was a war that nobody liked how it turned out. The war itself bought a different shape into the way the military was functioned, thus, the military was restricted and titled the Total Force Party, or the Abrams Doctrine, named after Creighton Abram, a US commander in Vietnam from 1968 to…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Ever since, the dawn of man war has been a part of man’s culture. War has been both vital and fatal to the survival of many cultures in the world. But, when the powers that oversee force people that they have ignored and quelled for many years to fight a war against people who pose no threat to them then problems emerge. The real purpose of war from the attacker’s viewpoint is not to protect an idea or defend the innocent from evil, the real purpose is to secure the resources that the territory possesses no matter who is invading. The Vietnam war is the perfect example of this, where the USA who was all about democracy and freedom had a dictator in South Vietnam make sure that the resources of the land got to the United States.…

    • 1740 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Death is an inseparable, inevitable, and an unavoidable part of life. It should not cause us to live in fear, but rather to live every moment or every second of the life to its fullest. It is important to not bury our heads in the sand, instead, to make responsible preparations which include our wishes for best for our family, friends, and relatives and also financial and legal arrangements for those who are left. Death gives us total reason for living because it provides us structure on how we appreciate and how we guide our lives. We should prioritize every important thing or activities or even the goals that we plan to accomplish before our eternal voyage.…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    This article discusses the under evaluation of the effects of war carried out by the United States military. Although there is much debate about foreign policy, there isn’t must justification for our nation’s wars. As the Iraq war grew unpopular, the analytical focus shifted deficiencies in intelligence analysis, war-planning, and counterinsurgency doctrine. There is not much focus on the theories of democratization, energy security, non-proliferation, and of failed states justifying the war and occupation. As the studies are focused on being cost efficient, recent U.S. wars proven that overthrowing dictators ruling over fractious organizations might cause lasting conflicts rather than stability, let alone liberal democracy.…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    One of the longest and bloodiest conflicts in American history, was the Vietnam War. Fighting in Vietnam continued for decades before the Americans eventually interfered. Between the neighboring Chinese and the colonial French, the Vietnamese have continuously fought off foreigners with tenacity and fearlessness. Over 3 million people died and Vietnam become a communist nation, despite American intervention(Vietnam War, History). Due to these disastrous results, it would be expected that most Americans would understand the fault in the conflict.…

    • 1624 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction There are many different views and opinions of the war in Vietnam. It was one of America’s longest, most controversial conflicts to date. In a war that lasted over a decade it is no surprise that lessons were learned on all parts. This paper will discuss what I feel is important lessons learned by Americans from the following arenas: diplomatic negotiations, presidential leadership, and cultural/social context. Diplomatic Negotiations For there to be success during diplomatic negotiations, there must be clear goals for all parts included.…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays