Seems documentaries are this summer's action blockbuster, so I caught a few this past week. The one that really had me riveted featured a bespectacled SecDef (as they call him on JAG) explaining his reasons for going to war; he was the picture of a modern Prep, full of spunk, wry humor, and arrogance despite his receding hairline. As he related his discussions with a smirking Texan president, designed to sell a questionable war to the American people, he was lively and full of quotable tidbits. But the SecDef wasn't Donald Rumsfeld telling W about the known unknowns versus the unknown unknowns. It was Robert S. McNamara recalling his conversations with Lyndon Johnson in 1964 as they backed the US into a war they both worried was going to be darn near impossible to win.
Yep, it wasn't FAHRENHEIT 9/11 that got me this week - though we'll come to that - it was Errol Morris' Oscar-winning documentary THE FOG OF WAR. In it, Robert McNamara relates 11 lessons from his life, and they are lessons well considered, if a bit late. His insights are fascinating - especially from WWII and the Kennedy administration (I can't tell you how much I love to hear about just how close the world came to nuclear war when I was in 2nd grade) - and occasionally repellant - that would be the Vietnam stuff. I'd heard this movie was one you could just pop in and out of because it's not so cinematic, and in fact that's what I'd planned to do. But within minutes I found myself completely absorbed by its content. It was chilling to see a perfectly rational man talk about the firebombing of Tokyo (100K dead in 1 night) and the mathematics of war. But then, one of the lessons warned about the inadequacy of reason in the face of fear.
The sound of LBJ's voice talking about tyranny and freedom, about America's will to win every battle, about the necessity of liberating these people, sure had a familiar ring. In the tapes of McNamara and Johnson talking about escalating the war in Vietnam, they express a degree of doubt, certainly about the wisdom of the battles to come and the ease with which they'd be fought, that never crept into their public statements. Perhaps Mac's most poignant, and apparently least universally listened to, lesson was "be prepared to re-examine your reasoning."
Which brings me to documentary #2, the record-busting FAHRENHEIT 9/11. As movies by Michael Moore go, this one was amazingly on point and only lightly sprinkled with random crazy theories. It's not even-handed, nor does it need to be. Certainly the film shouldn't be taken at face value, any more than a campaign commercial, TV docudrama, or Bob Woodward book should be. It is worth seeing, though I'm sure it will infuriate some percentage of you. I can't say I learned anything new, though I do have to say it's damning to see so many dominos, if I may borrow from the Vietnam era, lined up. But whether you agree whole hog with what's going on, have doubts, or disagree with all your heart, this movie's value is that it's asking the questions that no one in the mainstream media seem to be asking - and that seem never to be raised unless one is in like-minded company. So if you see it, keep an open mind, then set out to find answers to the questions, not platitudes to reinforce what you already believe. Moore makes a final haunting point about not sending our soldiers into harm's way unless it's really necessary; knowing how to define that necessity requires an informed public, which seems the least any of us can offer in service to our national ideals.
For people too young to remember the time, it's easy to underestimate the fear engendered during the Cold War, to laugh at the paranoia of old TWILIGHT ZONE episodes, and be shocked at the reasoning behind so many proxy wars. I think THE FOG OF WAR could help a new generation understand some of that fear and how it was up to a point honestly shared with and then cynically oversold to the American public. I'm not one to draw analogies between historical situations, but even through the fog it was obvious that human nature rarely changes. Sadly, it's evident that our government has occasionally, and perhaps recently, sent these kids into harm's way for reasons that remain suspect - even 40 years later. Only time will tell if today's rationale will pass muster in the light of a less heated day.
To me, the real analogy between Vietnam and the "War on Terror" is the way we can overreact to a legitimate threat with good intentions and still get bad results, which lead to worse decisions and too often an unwillingness to re-examine the situation - sort of like that will to forge forward rather than go back and ask for directions. Back in the day, it seemed the Cold War and the specter of communism were facts of our lives that would outlive us all - and now we visit St. Petersburg, and try to remember the names of all those former Soviet republics, and realize the last really Communist society is fabulous (but probably dangerous) North Korea. Perhaps by paying better attention, or asking around, we can get a jump on the truth this time, or at least come to accept that in human affairs, it is rarely sharply defined or the sole possession of any one side of the question.