Fog of War

B and i watched the best documentary i've seen in years last night. It was called Fog of War and it basically was an interview with Robert McNamara, former Secretary of Defense during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations (1961-1968), former president of the World Bank (1968-1981), current statesman, activist, retiree, octogenarian. A-freaking-mazing movie. Lots of video and audio footage of World Wars 1 and 2, the Vietnam War, the Great Depression, Korean War, presidential administrations of Eisenhower through Nixon, etc. Highly recommended if you like history or have questions about the Vietnam War, JFK, LBJ, or the way the U.S. handled (and continues to handle) itself during wartime. The centerpiece of the movie are the "11 lessons" McNamara has learned and we're supposed to learn from the movie. Following the film itself, in the special DVD features, are the 10 lessons that McNamara himself wrote and thought might be included in the film (some of them were the same but some weren't). This one is a perfect example of why we need more elderly wisdom in our government, in our society, etc.: Lesson #3: "We are the most powerful nation in the world--economically, politically, and militarily--and are likely to remain so for the decades ahead. But we are not omniscient. "If we cannot persuade other nations with similar interests and similar values of the merits of our proposed use of that power, we should not proceed unilaterally except in the unlikely requirement to defend directly the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii."