Rating: 
Summary: A Sanitized View of the Vietnam War
Review: Almost 30 years after his departure from the Department of Defense, Robert McNamara has decided to share his views of what led to and furthered US involvement in Vietnam. McNamara makes a few points that are helpful in understanding the decision-making process used by McNamara and his fellow policymakers. For example, McNamara is quick to remind us that US involvement in Vietnam began long before the Kennedy presidency. He also carefully outlines the mindset in which he and others were working. This mindset involved an absolute misunderstanding of the Vietnamese people and an incredible fear of the spread of Communism. These, among others described, were very real errors committed by McNamara and other policymakers. They failed to consult experts concerning many issues surrounding US involvement in Vietnam. What McNamara does not address, however, is the countless deaths, injuries and emotional scars experienced on both the American and Vietnamese sides. The only death McNamara seems affected by is that of a protester that burned himself to death 40 feet beneath McNamara's Pentagon office window. McNamara is interested in accepting his share of the blame for poor policy making, but seems unable to come to terms with the carnage that resulted from his errors. After reading McNamara's book, I have come to the conclusion that he is telling the truth about certain errors he made, but it is only half of the story. Also, beware of McNamara's ability to provoke sympathy. He describes his position with the Pentagon as being a very small part of a huge policymaking machine. He says he disagreed with many of the policies put forth, but failed to voice his opinions or his opinions were crushed by fellow policymakers. This, I do not believe. McNamara was an extremely powerful and influential policymaker during his stint as Secretary of Defense. If you are interested in the history surrounding the Vietnam War, read this book, but be sure to read others as well. This is one part of US involvement, but fails to tell the whole story. The book also has interesting insights into decision-making on a national level.
Rating: 
Summary: We already knew this!
Review: I admire McNamara for his "coming" out of the closet, but he has told us nothing we didn't already know. Bob, you are years and 58,000 lives too late. I admit to grabbing the book at first opportunity, however, was disappointed in that it was a rehash of "old news." Mr. Secretary, you were not the villain of our part in the War....at least you had the courage to back out of an unwinnable situation. What I don't understand is how you can still praise LBJ and Westy when it is clear they completely bungled an already discomposing situation. No need to elaborate....Johnson gave up after TET, his ego would not allow him to lose the election. Westmoreland was portrayed perfectly in his infamous on-scene interview immediately after TET...certainly not that of a supreme leader. Face it....Giap threw out the bait and Westmoreland bought it. Mr. McNamara's book is personably written....you have to like the man. He was thrown in a situation for which he was ill equipped. DOD is not Ford Motors. But he accepted the challenge and did his best. When he no longer could put up with the disease that permeated the Vietnam situation, he bowed out with dignity. The book is easy to read, laced with personal insight, but I am not convinced he has been completely truthful with us about the leadership. Then again, as a refined politician to the end, he elicited the polish that JFK saw in him at the outset. The author is a decent person and took the chance to redeem himself, but as noted before it was just too late....way late.
Rating:
Summary: Lucid, honest, enlightening
Review: The horns of the dilemma that trapped us: the South Vietnamese had to win it and we could not lose it. With just the right amount of detail, McNamara clearly conveys the power of inertia that drove the U.S. to crucify itself for the sake of ideology and international prestige. This book makes me wonder how government functions at all. We expect the executive branch to make sense of voluminous data, to direct a multitude of bureaucrats and a host of officials, who all have their own egos and points of view, in a swirl of ever changing and complex events. McNamara says there was never time to adequately address Vietnam on its own amid the daily decision making and the account in this book is the proof. McNamara gave himself over to his job and tried to rationalize the irrational. He was the one who ordered the study that ended up being revealed by Daniel Ellsberg as The Pentagon Papers. He makes the case clearly that those who say we didn't do enough to win have a hard case to prove. Above all McNamara is adamant against the use of nuclear weapons and that was the ultimate constraint on our activities in Southeast Asia. Most disturbing to me is that while top officials held meetings and floundered in seeming helplessness on the hook of Vietnam, hundreds, thousands were dying in the jungles. In the dictionary, many words have several definitions. Under the word tragedy, one of them should simply be "Vietnam". Two statements made by McNamara in this book remain in my mind: not all problems have immediate solutions and military actions have unforeseen consequences.
Rating: 
Summary: Provides insight
Review: Everything is much clearer in retrospect. This book reveals the thinking behind the decisions about the war, and how mistaken it was, given what we now know.
Rating:
Summary: Politically Informative
Review: As someone who knew very little about the Vietnam war, I found this book to be informative in the chronology of many of the events leading up to the war's escalation. However, not only does this account stop at 1968, but McNamara comes off somewhat righteous regarding the part he played in the politics of the war. He says he was responsible for not doing more to prevent the US from getting more deeply involved, prevent escalation, or end it. However, he sticks to his belief that he always wanted to do the right thing; it was everyone else who wanted escalation. He only left the Johnson administration after the President stopped listening to him and essentially fired him. I suspect David Halberstam's "The Best & The Brightest" is a much better account of the war. It's next on my list.
Rating: 
Summary: Pure Drivel
Review: It's really easy, guys: YOU DON'T KILL OTHER PEOPLE. IT'S IMPOLITE
Rating:
Summary: good overview of what happened in vietnam
Review: and the mistakes that were made . . . i particularly liked the last chapter, dealing wtih the lessons that we need to learn.
Rating:
Summary: A must to better understand the quagmire that was Vietnam
Review: For anyone wishing to better understand the Vietnam War this is a must read. As usual McNamara
fills his book with tables and statistics that tend to support his view of Vietnam.
Boiled down to its utmost simplicity there are really only several points of controversy in Vietnam.
1. The strategy as promulgated by the General Westmoreland (known as "Westy" by McNamara) was
A. Let the South Vietnamese troops basically
provide security in the villages and Hamlets, and
have US Troops (sometimes assisted by those few
South Vietnamese military units that were well organized and disciplined) engage in "Search and Destroy" missions. This was essentially the "war of attrition" philosophy. This was contrasted by
the philosphy of having US troops guaranty security of the hamlets and villages so as to encourage the South Vietnamese to cooperate with the South Vietnamese Government. This philosophy was promoted by the United States Marines, primarily Lt. General Victor Krulak as described in his book, "First To Fight", a book not about Vietnam as such but about the Marine Corps. Krulak believes that Gen. Westmoreland's strategy was thus fundamentally flawed and I agree with him.
2.The second major point was that the "military's hands were tied" by McNamara and the President in that it was forbidden to fight in North Vietnam and the concurrent refusal to cut off the supply of military material to the North Vietnamese by bombing and mining the port of Haiphong and hitting other shipping and communications facilities in North Vietnam.
On this important point it is vital for the reader to understand that neither North or South Vietnam hadd any material manufacturing abiltiy. All of North Vietnams military material came from either Russia or China or their allies. McNamara's point is that the bombing of Haiphong and other points would have not worked anyway due to the relatively small amount of material need to sustain the North Vietnamese regulars and the Vietcong. North Vietnam has large manpower willing to virtually carry supplies on his back to supply its own troops and the Vietcong. If Haiphong was cut off
certainly the supplies would be sent through rail links to China. This point is crucial. McNamara and the President delieved that by bombing Haiphong and other points China and perhaps Russia would directly enter the war. Nobody now can know if that is true. What does seem to make sense is that McNamara's point that the bombing would not work as supplies would still flow into North and South Vietnam in amounts sufficient to maintain both the North Vietnamese regulars and the Vietcong.
Another point brought out in McNamara's book is how close we came to use nuclear and biological weapons as proposed by the United States Military in their plan to bomb and mine Haiphong and other points. This account of nuclear weapons use
was recently declassied and it is truly scary how close nuclear weapons night have been used. No one of course knows that even if nuclear weapons were used what would have happened. McNamara does not deny that both he and the President did not want
to use nuclear or chemical weapons because of the risks involved of the third world war. I agree that such a decision, made at the time was right.
3. McNamara further points out that the Vietnam
war was doomed from the get go because of the lack of a strong, popularly supported government in South Vietnam. This obvious point is true. I believe that the only way the South Vietnamese people would have ever supported government would have been to provide security to the villages and hamlets by following the philosophy of Marine General Victor Krulak and his ilk. There is no doubt that McNamara was right. Without popular support the Vietnam war was doomed from the start.
The last important point is that if McNamara thought the Vietnam war was doomed from the start and as McNamara points out that there were specific points that the United States should have pulled out why did he not say so. If McNamara felt as strong as he did about the unwinability of the war why did he not resign and say so. If McNamara did take such action what effect would it have on the future conduct of the war after McNamara resigned in protest. No one knows of course. NcNamara points out that his philosophy is that such action is just not right. McNamara feels that cabinet members owe their loyalty to the President and not anybody or anything else. This is where McNamara and I differ. McNamara points out that ours is not a parliamentary system as in England where the cabinet ministers revolt and call a new elections as recently did happen in England. This may be true but I believe that McNamara is wrong. The duty anyone owes is to the people of the United States and its Constitution and not to any one person even if that person is the President.
The best example of a cabinet officer to resign in protest was that of Attorney General Elliot Richardson when he resigned in protest in the so called "Saturday Night Massacre". This is an important point and it should not be forgotten. It must be further pointed out that when McNamara "resigned, or quit" there were approximately 20,000 American dead. When the war ended in 1972/73 the total American dead was 58,000. McNamara resignation may have preventeed at least some of those 38,000 Americans who came not in glory but in body bags.
Unusual in most books is that McNamara prints both favorable and unfavorable reviews and point by point answers his critics. One may not agree with McNamara but at the very least this book should be
read to better understand all the actors points of view at the time.
I would like to point out two upcoming events that anybody wishing to further understand Vietnam is that as this review is being written there is conference being held in Hanoi with McNamara and North Vietnamese military officials on the Vietnam
War. This is the first time that meetings have happened at this level. The second event is a book which I have not read that is being pubished July 1, 1997 called "Dereliction of Duty" by H. R. McMaster. From the publishers hype this also appears another book to be read.
Bernard Barton(BBarton@worldnet.att.net)
Rating:
Summary: a suitable punishment: MCNAMARA'S BANNED!
Review: AS A VETERAN OF TWO TOURS IN VIETNAM, I HAD ALWAYS BELIEVED ROBERT S. MCNAMARA TO BE ONE OF THE TRULY EVIL INDIVIDUALS OF RECENT TIMES. THE FACTS AS SET FORTH IN THIS BOOK, IN HIS OWN WORDS AND THOSE OF HIS CO-AUTHOR, HAVE CHANGED THAT OPINION OF SOME THIRTY YEARS. I NO LONGER BELIEVE HIM EVIL, MERELY STUPID. READ IT
Rating:
Summary: 58,000 Americans died for LBJ's & JFK's business venture
Review: 58,000 Americans died for LBJ's & JFK's business venture known as the Vietnam War. The Kennedys and especially LBJ became very wealthy off of the war. McNamara's disasters during the war are endless including his rushing the defective M-16 into combat. McNamara should have done the honorable thing and committed hari-kari. The man is a disgrace. The only honorable characters in the Vietnam War are Nixon, our soldiers and General Creighton Abrams. Our men had the war won and the North Vietnamese were ready for a conditional surrender not long after the Tet Offensive after 1968. The liberal U.S. media, Hnaoi Jane Fonda, Ramsey Clark and Hanoi John Kerry saved the communists. General Giap and other N. Vietnamese leaders later said their anti-war collaborators saved the day for Hanoi. While the Kennedys became wealthier from JFK's Vietnam War and LBJ became an inflation adjusted billionaire (see his Brown & Root ownership and billions in contracts) - Nixon left office practically broke. McNamara is a disgrace. At least Benedict Arnold had a conscience and regretted his actions until the day he died.
|
