THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

The Fog of War paints a vivid image of self defense on the part of Robert McNamara for the part he played in The Vietnam War and the Cold War. In retrospect, he did his quite well. My favorite quote from the film was "Answer the question you wished was asked." This simple, one line statement summed up not only McNamara's position throughout the Vietnam/Cold War, but what I consider to be, the mindset of the majority of American politicians.

Robert Strange McNamara was a brilliant man. Had he not been asked to bear the burden of Secretary of Defense for the United States of America during these perilous times, he could have ultimately been one of the most powerful businessmen in the world. I admire him for his decision to serve the country and President Kennedy. This film paints McNamara in a new light that takes away the warmonger title associated with his name for his actions. At the end of the film, I felt a certain sense of pity for the man. Perhaps this is the product of excellent rhetoric on his part.

A powerful segment of the film came during the Cold War. McNamara states that Fidel Castro would have sacrificed all of Cuba in an attack on America. This reality of the choices involved in war and the weight on each end of the scale presented throughout the documentary provide for a powerful argument against anti-war documentaries like Hearts and Minds. While I still believe that the Vietnam War was wrong, the what if? aspect to Robert McNamara's statements in the Lesson #11 segment (You Can't Change Human Nature) make me question was our involvement necessary? The dominoes rising back up as the camera is rewound to a powerful, mysterious string arrangement provides for a moving testimony to these statements. "You don't have hindsight at the time."

In the lesson, You Can't Change Human Nature, there was one scene in particular that struck me as overly moving. McNamara is discussing the idea that War will not be eliminated in our lifetime or for generations to come- A bomb technician is wheeling a bomb to a plane, on the bomb's facade, inscribed in white paint is "THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING." A chilling moment in the movie. We, as young Americans, have not witnessed a war as severe as Vietnam. This piece of visual rhetoric should frighten even the bravest of Americans.