I spent four years in the military during the Vietnam War so I know Robert McNamara well. No, I never met the man but everyone in the military at the time felt his touch. I never met a serviceman who liked or respected him. He was your stereotypical bureaucrat, running a war and sending men and women to their deaths from his comfortable office in Washington.
Well, he finally joined the 58,000 plus troops who died in his little war. I think Joseph Galloway (McClatchy News) has the best response to McNamara's death yet.
When famous people die, we have come to expect scores of tributes to the person, with stories of all the great things he or she did in their life, and how much they will be missed. Well, this one is different. Galloway hated McNamara and he's not afraid to show it. He writes:
He goes on to describe just how deep Halberstam's hatred was,
When McNamara published his first book — filled with those distortions of history — Halberstam, at his own expense, set out on a journey following McNamara on his book tour around America as a one-man truth squad.
McNamara abandoned the tour.
Read Galloway's piece, it's deliciously irreverent. And scroll down to WallaceN's comment.
--Trakker
Mistakes will be made
From the Comments:
Posted by: horsec | July 08, 2009 at 08:41 AM
'I just hope there is someone to follow Cheney around on his book tour, calling for truth against his lies and I'm sure what will be his version of history."
Wouldn't that be nice? Alas, the people who will buy Cheney's book already live in a land of make-believe and they prefer it to reality.
Posted by: Trakker | July 08, 2009 at 10:40 AM