Fog of War

Unlike Hearts and Minds, the documentary Fog of War gave me a better understanding of why the US thought they had the right idea to invade Vietnam. But like McNamara states, the American government didn't know the Vietnamese well enough to emphasize with them and put themselves in their shoes. By showing McNamara admit and analyze his mistakes throughout the war, the film attempts to build sympathy for the man.

McNamara visits Vietnam far after the war is over and realizes the war was just a huge misunderstanding. After finally getting to know the Vietnamese people and seeing what they were truly fighting for (freedom), McNamara realizes the US was unaware of this at the time and basically saw the Vietnam War as an addition to the Cold War that needed to be taken care of. Although being naive of the Vietnamese people doesn't justify the American intrusion, I still almost felt sorry for McNamara because the film portrays him as a man stuck in a bad situation with no way out.

It made me wonder what I would have done in a similar situation. McNamara was a business man who had very little experience as the Secretary of Defense and he made that very clear to President Kennedy. The film takes away some of his blame by showing how he was pressured into his position. It almost seems as if McNamara wants to blame Johnson for the war since McNamara apparently told him that, "we ought to think of other action rather than military action." This is also an attempt to take the blame of McNamara and see him more as the good guy who had no choice but to follow the president's orders.

Despite who said this or who did that, I don't think it is fair to blame one single person for the Vietnam War. McNamara was obviously blamed for much of the military action that took place during the war, but it's hard for me to put myself in his shoes so I really don't have much room to judge him. Ultimately, this documentary attempts to take some of the war guilt off of McNamara's hands.