Blog 12 SAL

The documentary Fog of War depicts the life of former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara. His eleven lessons are used as guidelines in describing his experiences in life, which include: growing up during World War I, being a part of the Cuban Missile Crisis, his involvement in World War II, and his actions of the Vietnam War. While McNamara does not directly say that this film is a film to rationalize his actions while Secretary of Defense, it seems this way particularly with the last five lessons. This film is a documentary to rationalize and apologize for his actions as his life is coming to an end.
McNamara explains that these eleven lessons are rules that are used when making decisions about World War II and the Vietnam War. Although this film is a rationalization of his actions, he does admit that he did make some wrong decisions. The first six lessons – empathize with the enemy, rationality will not save us, there is something beyond oneself, maximize efficiency, proportionality should be a guideline in war, and get data – are all rules for life and war. The seventh lesson, belief and seeing are both often wrong, is where the major shift occurs. At this lesson and beyond, he shifts to rationalizing his actions and almost defending everything he says rather than giving rules for war and life as in the previous six lessons.
The fifth lesson is not a shift in ideas, but it is a shift in tone. Proportionality should be a guideline in war is the fifth lesson, and McNamara uses it to discuss the morality of war; saying that he would rather use a bomb and kill innocent people then send in his own soldiers across the sea to fight. Citing proportionality as a justification to killing so many innocent people in Vietnam rather than focusing on the military personnel. McNamara said that proportionality was about hurting the enemy the most, not necessarily killing the most military soldiers; killing civilians was hurting the enemy the most.
This film is a film in defense of McNamara’s actions as Secretary of Defense, and he does this through his eleven life lessons, but his rationalizations are questioned; particularly those in reference to Agent Orange. Regardless, McNamara uses this film as a way to justify his actions to the public because war is a fog, so complex that humans cannot understand it clearly.