The Fog of War is a documentary film that can be illustrated with the observations and thoughts of Robert McNamara. The entire film takes a shape around him and his experiences. He had a crucial role within the US government by giving critical decisions. He was the former secretary of defense. The Fog of War is a documentary that shows us the difficulties and responsibilities that are needed to bear. The documentary is a good example of how important decision-making mechanism concerning the security issues. Since US has huge power in politics, government was expected to do everything well. Responsibilities of Robert McNamara were significant. The documentary film is a kind of interview of the US former Secretary of Defense. In the interview, …show more content…
Management of modern war is a hard duty. It can also be derived from the movie that how Americans deal with the era of Vietnam War and what kind of approach does America has about the conflicts concerning the area of Middle-East. Robert McNamara had crucial role in the Vietnam War with other significant actors like J. F. Kennedy. Concerning the military strategy and the campaign about bombing were the subjects that McNamara took a role in. In the movie there are important observations of McNamara about humanity. For instance he mentions that people are the creatures that hardly learn from their past and this situation make them repeat their mistakes. He has a bit negative approach to this situation. However he is not entirely desperate about people. Some may learn from the past, he thinks. In the movie, there are great moments that one may not think about. Meeting of McNamara and his one of the enemies from Vietnamese army was the unique and interesting …show more content…
The first one is about understanding the enemies by putting himself in a condition which they are in and he titled it as empathize with your enemy. The second one is about the role of rational actors. McNamara’s inference about rationality took a shape at the time of Cuban Missile Crisis, since the rational actors triggered the nuclear war at the time. He has an opinion about today’s world by saying that the danger of nuclear war is still a subject that should be considered about since it can occur and give enormous damages to nations. According to McNamara the third lesson that is learnt from life is the impression lies behind the truth. The forth lesson is about make the benefits higher as much as possible. The 8th air force that McNamara worked for was the former duty of him. Afterwards he took a duty on 58th Bomb Wing planes across the pacific arena. According to him, the fifth lesson that is understood from life is about proportionality. It is significant to adjust the level of implications in war. Proportionality needs to be a notion that should be considered in warfare. Another lesson is about the data, getting information and so forth. He has crucial role on getting information and some information was about the cars. In the 1960 McNamara became president of Ford. This duty was given McNamara by Henry Ford. In the 7th lesson he argues that the beliefs and seeing are not true all
The aftermath — No More Vietnams — is well-covered in Appy’s work. The No More Vietnam mantra is usually presented as avoiding quagmires, focusing on quick, sharp wins. Instead, Appy shows politicians have manipulated No More Vietnams into meaning greater secrecy (think Central America in the 1980’s), more over-the-top justifications (“You don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud”) and an emphasis on keeping American deaths inside the acceptable limits of the day to tamp down any public anti-war sentiment.
The reports in this novel are prefaced with a quote by Robert Shaplen, which sums up the feelings of those Americans involved in the Vietnam conflict. He states, "Vietnam, Vietnam . . .. There are no sure answers." In this novel, the author gives a detailed historical account of the happenings in Vietnam between 1950 and 1975. He successfully reports the confusing nature, proximity to the present and the emotions that still surround the conflict in Vietnam. In his journey through the years that America was involved in the Vietnam conflict, Herring "seeks to integrate military, diplomatic, and political factors in such a way as to clarify America's involvement and ultimate failure in Vietnam."
The Vietnam War: A Concise International History is a strong book that portrays a vivid picture of both sides of the war. By getting access to new information and using valid sources, Lawrence’s study deserves credibility. After reading this book, a new light and understanding of the Vietnam war exists.
A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo, is an exceptional autobiography on a man's first-hand experiences during the Vietnam War. Philip Caputo is a Lieutenant during the Vietnam War and illustrates the harsh reality of what war really is. Caputo's in-depth details of his experience during the war are enough to make one cringe, and the eventual mental despair often experienced by soldiers (including Caputo) really makes you feel for participants taking part in this dreadful war atmosphere. Giving way to the parties and the common fun associated with college kids, Caputo failed out of college and realized what he really wanted to be was a Marine. He joined the Marines and went through a lot of officer training until he eventually reached what would be known as his final rank of Lieutenant. Introduced to the Vietnam War in 1965 as a Platoon leader, Caputo walked into the war a little scared but with a lot of determination. Caputo started the war with a lot of field work including jungle expeditions and shooting escapades, and eventually was sent to keep track of the everyday deaths occurring during the war and all the paperwork associated with such a job. Later he was put back in charge of a platoon which eventually lead to his downfall following an unethical order he gave his men that resulted in the killing of a couple Vietnamese pedestrians believed to be part of the Viet Cong. Caputo was acquitted of all charges and was given a letter of reprimand from the general. About ten years later he continued his Marine endeavors as he reported to Vietnam and witnessed the surrender of the Saigon Government to the Communist North Vietnamese. Caputo's war experience was plagued by...
In his short story, O’Brien unravels step by step the irony in the double meaning of truth, implied in this first statement, “This is true”, to the reader which is then woven through the entire story. By trying to characterize what constitutes a true war story, but never really achieving this goal, the true irony of his short story is revealed. Even though in some instances giving away his opinion explicitly, the sheer contradiction of honesty and reality becomes even more visible in an implicit way by following O’Brien’s explanations throughout the story while he deconstructs his first statement. The incongruity between his first statement and what is actually shown in his examples does not need any explicit statements to drive home his message.
In his speech, Eugene McCarthy describes why fighting the Vietnam War was a poor decision to make. First, he mentions how John F. Kennedy gave hope and courage to America and its people in 1963; on the other hand, in 1967, America was in a period of frustration and distrust due to the escalation of the Vietnam War. McCarthy states that America is not the world police and should not be giving promises that they could not follow through with. Moreover, the United States was fighting a pointless war where there are no changes being seen. “I see little evidence that the administration has set any limits on the price which it will pay for a military victory which becomes less and less sure and more hollow and empty in promise” (McCarthy). Throughout the duration of the war, the United States made very little progress, even though they had p...
In the twentieth century many young adults and many other men were chosen/ drafted to enter the war. The Vietnam War started during the time period of 1959 and this brutal war ended on 1975. It started with the United States sending aid and military advisors to the Southern part Vietnam. The U.S helped the southerners of Vietnam because the northern part of Viet was a communist state so the south wanted to end Communism up in the north. Also, this war was said to be one of the bloodiest wars that took place in the twentieth century. It was a very bloody war because more than 58,000 American soldiers had perished in combat. Also, during the decade of direct U.S Military participation in Vietnam, during early time of the year, 1964 the U.S treasury spent over 140 billion dollars on this war. “This was enough money to fund urban projects in every major American city” (history.com). As this war effected the American’s, it affected the Vietnamese people to. This war affected both the American’s and the Vietnamese, because in the year of 1973 the United States began withdrawing troops. This caused the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon to fall to the Northern Vietnamese forces. Just like how the war was long and bloody many characters from the novel The Things They Carried experienced many things that were relatable to people who in reality dealt with the war. The very brutality of war cause indelible psychological and emotional changes in most of its
The Vietnam War was a conflict that many people did not comprehend. In fact, the war was atrocious and bloody. According to The Vietnam War: a History in Documents, 58,000 US soldier died and more than 700,000 came back with physical and emotional marks (Young, Fitzgerald & Grunfeld 147). For many Americans this war was meaningless. In the same way, O’Brien admits, “American war in Vietnam seemed to me wrong; certain blood was being shed for uncertain reason” (40). O’Brien believes the war was not significance. Furthermore, the lack of logic in the matter makes him confused about going to war. That’s why, he does not understand why he was sent to fight a war for which causes and effects were uncertain. The author continues by saying, “I was too good for...
Behind every war there is supposed to be a moral—some reason for fighting. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. O’Brien relays to the readers the truth of the Vietnam War through the graphic descriptions of the man that he killed. After killing the man O’Brien was supposed to feel relief, even victory, but instead he feels grief of killing a man that was not what he had expected. O’Brien is supposed to be the winner, but ends up feeling like the loser. Ironically, the moral or lesson in The Things They Carried is that there is no morality in war. War is vague and illogical because it forces humans into extreme situations that have no obvious solutions.
Attempt to look at the face of an eighty-five-year-old man who is trying to hold back tears while talking about the loss of a close friend, and not feel for the man. In Fog of War by Errol Morris, the rhetorical techniques of close up shots and flawed scenes are used to show true emotion. Morris is persuading the audience to believe that Robert McNamara is a person with real feelings, even though he is a very disliked man for his former role of Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War.
O’Brien uses his authorial freedom to create character and events, that were inspired by what he saw and heard in Vietnam, and mesh them together in ways that allow the reader to experience the war the same way the soldiers did, violently, without explanation, and in emotional isolation. O’Brien is able to show the reader how the soldiers felt like they were trapped by the death and hatred discussed in the above quote and how that affected their mental
In the introduction of the book McNamara freely admits that the book “represents the truth as I [McNamara] perceive it based on information available to me today”. McNamara is using his current knowledge to analyze the events of the past, rather than attempting to show the events through the lenses of the time period that they happened in. By stating this, McNamara is acknowledging that the information he is presenting is influenced by is current biases. He is also acknowledging that what he is presenting as “truth” is biased due to personal memory and option – it is how he remembers events now, rather than hard
The film, which is set in 1968, is structured in two main parts. The first takes place in a Marine boot camp, while the second shows the situation on the battlefield in Vietnam. The movie is quite atypical. In fact it does not homologate to the convectional conception of the classic war film. This particular aspect is evident once that the stylistic elements, both aesthetic and thematic, are analyzed. First of, it is pretty much impossible to identify a single protagonist, the hero whose
Duty, Honor, Country, a very well written speech by a general of the U.S. Army Douglas MacArthur.
Coming to terms with war and its moral consequences is burdensome. War is filled with death, pain, bullets. Tim O'Brien, a military veteran and author, believes that the “nightmare of Vietnam” was not the bullets and the bombs, but the failure of nerve and consciousness. I believe that the failure of consciousness means that you act before you think, as shown in Ambush and Of Mice and Men.