Rating: 
Summary: self serving
Review: Robert S. McNamara is trying to salvage how 'history' is going to remember him. Unfortunately (for him) he's going to be judged on the facts. McNamara and his 'wiz kids' were an unmitigated disaster.They didn't understand war. Didn't understand people. Foreign cultures. Instead of observing reality and adjusting policy according to what worked and what didn't, they tried to force reality to fit their computer projections. McNamara is going to go down in history alongside:
Ambrose Burnside (instead of using a shallow ford at Antietam creek he funneled them across a narow bridge),Montgomery at Arnhem (194: 70% of his troops killer or captured)or Clades Variana who managed to lose two entire legions in the Teutoburg forest (and help hasten the end of the empire)
Actually, McNamara will make a name for himself just as Braxton Bragg did. A 'mcnamara' will be a blind blundering egocentric who causes death and anguish yet couldn't pour p*ss from a boot with the instructions printed on the heel.
For a better read
try:
Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War
or better still
Steel My Soldiers' Hearts : The Hopeless to Hardcore Transformation of U.S. Army, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, Vietnam
or indeed anyting by David Hackworth
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.
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.
Rating: 
Summary: Ivy League rash
Review: a pompous, self-serving treatment that adds insult to injury on a level not seen since Benedict Arnold or Judas. Too much, too late from one whose arrogance and megalomania extend to writing a work with the intent to clear his conscience after years of living high on the hog, while others turned to worms. There is some interesting content here and he does some self disclosure which is worth something, but ohhhh how pathetic to know actual Vietnam vets and then come across content written by one of Sabbath's War Pigs! Blasphemy.
Rating: 
Summary: The banality of the arrogance of evil
Review: A thoughtful, if repellent, reflection. Unfortunately, much too little, way too late. It's a conclusive demonstration of the chains of events the unbridled arrogance of one powerful man can initiate. Arendt wrote about the ultimate banality of evil. McNamara represents the banality of arrogance become evil. I am a combat veteran of this dismal adventure, and have tried for more than thirty years to come to terms with the vicious exploitation of our youth that undergirded and perpetuated it. There's darned little meaning to be found, and McNamara hasn't helped. Trust me: he earned and richly deserves every nightmare.
Rating:
Summary: I Learned Nothing New
Review: After reading Mr McNamara's book, I feel as though I learned nothing new about Vietnam. He really is justifying the incompetence that cost so many lives. Among them: - During the 1966 bomb shortage, Mr McNamara correctly points out that no sorties were cancelled. However, he fails to mention that aircraft were flying missions with less tha optimal bomb load. The dangers US pilots faced, however, were still very high. - Before April 1967, US aircraft were not permitted to attack North Vietnamese aircraft while they were on the ground. This allowed the North Vietnamese to determine when they were going to fight. Of course, they would fight when it was only to their advantage. Fortunately, due to the skill of US pilots, the North Vietnamese Air Force put up only sporadic resistance. - US pilots were not permitted to attack North Vietnamese Surface to Air Missile (SAM) sites while they were under construction. Restrictions like these permitted the North Vietnamese to develop some of the toughest aerial defenses in the history of aerial warfare. Thanks to these restrictions, many pilots became POWs, enduring years of horrifying torture. - In July 1966, US POWs were paraded in Hanoi front of a deliberately agitated North Vietnamese mob. This was done in violation of the Geneva Convention, yet Mr McNamara or President Johnson did nothing. The message ws clear-you can torture US POWs, and their country will do nothing. - During the Vietnam War, the US was accused of genocide, when in fact the populations of both North and South Vietnam were increasing. Mr McNamara does not attack these accusations or defend US servicemen who fought in the war, nor did he defend them during the Vietnam War. In fact, he accused our pilots of killing 1000 civilians a week. - He still justifies denying US forces permission to pursue Communist forces in Laos and Cambodia. This restriction allowed the Communists to control the tempo of fighting in South Vietnam. - He does not state why the Soviet Union did not get involved in the Vietnam War after President Nixon mined Haiphong Harbor. Concern over Soviet involvement alledgedly restrained Mr McNamara from mining Haiphong. At least 70% of North Vietnamese were material entered through Haiphong Harbor. - The only time the North Vietnamese were anxious to negotiate was after Operation Linebacker II, the B-52 bombing of the Hanoi-Haiphong region during December 1972. Mr McNamara does not explain why this was not done during his tenure as Secretary of Defense. I have read many books on the Vietnam War and have come to the conclusion that our serviceman did an outstanding job there. In fact, despite Mr McNamara's idiotic restrictions, our servicemen never lost a battle, inculding Tet. I think Mr McNamara owes them an apology, for it ws his incompetence that lost the war.
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: Honest admission, but still misses the mark
Review: Although the mention of Robert MacNamara's name is enough to inflame passionate responses on both ends of the spectrum, I felt the book was an honest attempt by MacNamara to deal with his mistakes and, to a lesser extent, the consequences of those mistakes. It's probably as honest a self-appraisal as we are likely to see from such a prominent figure of the period. However, I suggest that one reads this in conjunction with H.R. McMaster's splendid "Dereliction of Duty" to gain a more balanced perspective on exactly where the Johnson and Kennedy administrations went wrong. One gains the impression that MacNamara still doesn't really understand why his noble intentions met such a sordid end - read McMaster's incisive analysis of the cynical machinations of Johnson, MacNamara, Taylor, et al and it will become clearer. MacNamara is also disingenuous about the role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as his manipulation to remove the JCS from any major forum on the strategy of the war, despite their clear misgivings, makes him clearly culpable. McMaster's judgement on the JCS is also damning, but his analysis and conclusions are more sound, I think. One of the few retrospective acounts by a major participant which isn't entirely self-serving and worth reading for that alone.
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 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
| 
