After years of procrastination, I've finally gotten around to seeing The Fog of War, the gripping documentary by Errol Morris about the life/career of Robert McNamara.
Being released in 2003, people probably saw some correlation to what was going on at the time. Watching it in 2006, the similarities between the Vietnam War and the War in Iraq are all the more chilling. It's one thing to have the facts presented in the form of an op-ed piece, a blog post, or even a televised speech. It's another thing to see the truth in archival footage.
What struck me was not the factual similarities between the two, but the footage from the Vietnam War-- LBJ's speeches, press conferences led by Sec. of Defense McNamara, and even state functions.
You can't help but think of President Bush when you hear President Johnson, in a similar Texas accent, tell a crowd that America is in "a struggle against tyranny and aggression."
You can't help but think of the civil war in Iraq as you hear McNamara explain his meeting with Vietnamese officials many years later, where he learned about the history of Vietnam, and it's centuries long struggle against China.
You can't help but think of Rumsfeld when you see McNamara's press conferences, or hear him explain how his motto was to "never answer the question you were asked; answer the question you wish had been asked."
And you can't help but imagine the inevitable when you see footage of LBJ presenting McNamara with the Medal of Freedom after he stepped down (i.e. was fired) from office.
It's clear that we haven't yet learned any lessons from our past. This administration probably won't learn any lessons from the present. What's most compelling is to see the contradictions in McNamara: a man who chokes up with tears when describing the destruction of Japan in WWII (or the devastation in Vietnam) that resulted from extensive bombing campaigns, and yet also a man who is not ready to accept much responsibility for his actions. He refuses to answer certain questions pertaining to guilt or culpability even at the end of the film.
We can't expect the administration to truly accept responsibility for what it has done in Iraq. It certainly won't happen in the next two years. We can only hope that Congress reigns Bush in, keeping a worse fate at bay.