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The Fog of War

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  • 16-10-2004 4:34pm
    #1
    luckat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,366 ✭✭✭


    I'm watching this; someone sent it to me a couple of months ago and I'm just looking at it on the computer:

    http://www.sonyclassics.com/fogofwar/

    Anyone interested in politics, human interaction and the huge mistakes of war should definitely see this - especially as Europe seems to be militarising, and we seem to be being sucked in to this.

    It's a movie of Robert McNamara, advisor to a bunch of American presidents including Kennedy, and one of the organisers of the firebombing of 67 Japanese cities, the Vietnam war and other highlights of US foreign policy, talking about war and history. Music by Philip Glass, historical footage, just... incredible stuff.

    I've just come to a part where McNamara says definitely if the Allies had lost the war he would have been prosecuted as a war criminal. But why should one be a war criminal if one loses, he asks - isn't he a war criminal in any case for deliberately burning to death 100,000 civilians in one night in Tokyo.

    Please, please hunt out this extraordinary film and watch it.


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    #2
    RE*AC*TOR
    Registered Users Posts: 7,482 ✭✭✭RE*AC*TOR


    Seen it, super movie. Many would regard McNamara as a monster, but you can't help identifying with him.


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    #3
    luckat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,366 ✭✭✭luckat


    Heh, wouldn't go that far!

    Empathising with him, though, maybe.


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    #4
    RE*AC*TOR
    Registered Users Posts: 7,482 ✭✭✭RE*AC*TOR


    Yes, well, you obviously don't have the killer instinct.

    :eek:


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    #5
    luckat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,366 ✭✭✭luckat


    Don't see the point of killing, no. Don't see how it improves this world, unless you're killing fast with the intention of eating your victim. Then it improves it for you, if not for your meat.


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    #6
    Peter Frankes
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5 ✭Peter Frankes


    It's not about the pure right/wrong emotive issue of whether it is o.k. to kill someone. People are not reasoning but not reasonable, they try to kill each other a lot even though it makes no sense, this is a constant guaranteed factor.
    If someone tries to kill you and the only way of saving yourself is to kill them, do you do it? Is it ethical? Is it ethical to torture someone if it means you will not die? Is it ethical to kill 100 to prevent the deaths of 1000?
    It's kind of impossible to apply the rule of law to war, during or after conflict. Ireland are in a morally convienient position in this regard cos we don't have any cause to think about Defense in any way other than peacekeeping. As RSMcM points out, that when war happens, it's impossible to manage it, the human mind cannot process all the variables. He comes to the conclusion that the best possible senario is to prevent it starting at all (if you are saying 'no **** sherlock' to yourself at this point then you've missed it completely. As we have seen, this is impossible), so the next best thing is to work towards a proporional multilateral response to agresssion.

    Pf


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