tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18389680.post254925910044866904..comments2024-03-27T19:17:30.633+01:00Comments on stan van houcke: CNN Normalizes Suicide Bombers and Embeds Reporters with ISIS and Al Qaedastanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966505503468040742noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18389680.post-17292735987345968712016-08-21T22:23:12.731+02:002016-08-21T22:23:12.731+02:00The Fog of War Errol Morris - 2003
'It is ...<a href="https://archive.org/details/TheFogOfWarElevenLessonsFromTheLifeOfRobertS.Mcnamara" rel="nofollow">The Fog of War</a> <i>Errol Morris - 2003</i> <br /><br />'It is the story of America as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara. One of the most controversial and influential figures in world politics, he takes us on an insider's view of the seminal events of the 20th Century. Why was this past Century the most destructive and deadly in all of human history? Are we doomed to repeat our mistakes? Are we free to make choices, or are we at the mercy of inexorable historical forces and ideologies?<br /><br />From the firebombing of 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo in 1945 to the brink of nuclear catastrophe during the Cuban missile crisis to the devastating effects of the Vietnam War, The Fog of War examines the psychology and reasoning of the government decision-makers who send men to war. How were decisions made and for what reason? What can we learn from these historical events?<br /><br />As American forces occupy Iraq and the possibility of additional military conflict looms large, The Fog of War is essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand how the American government justifies the use of military force. Combining extraordinary archival footage, recreations, newly declassified White House recordings, and an original score by the Oscar nominated composer, Philip Glass, the film is a disquieting and powerful essay on war, rationality, and human nature. 'Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18389680.post-44736015977809180972016-08-21T22:13:05.938+02:002016-08-21T22:13:05.938+02:00Does Henry Kissinger have a conscience? - Jon Lee ...<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/does-henry-kissinger-have-a-conscience" rel="nofollow">Does Henry Kissinger have a conscience?</a> - Jon Lee Anderson in The New Yorker<br /><br />[..]'We have repeatedly reviewed evidence of Kissinger’s callousness. Some of it is as inexplicable as it is shocking. There is a macho swagger in some of Kissinger’s remarks. It could, perhaps, be explained away if he had never wielded power, like—thus far—the gratuitously offensive Presidential candidate Donald Trump. And one has an awareness that Kissinger, the longest-lasting and most iconic pariah figure in modern American history, is but one of a line of men held in fear and contempt for the immorality of their services rendered and yet protected by the political establishment in recognition of those same services. William Tecumseh Sherman, Curtis LeMay, Robert McNamara, and, more recently, Donald Rumsfeld all come to mind.<br /><br />In Errol Morris’s remarkable 2003 documentary “The Fog of War,” we saw that McNamara, who was an octogenarian at the time, was a tormented man who was attempting to come to terms, unsuccessfully, with the immense moral burden of his actions as the U.S. defense secretary during Vietnam. McNamara had recently written a memoir in which he attempted to grapple with his legacy. Around that time, a journalist named Stephen Talbot interviewed McNamara, and then also secured an interview with Kissinger. As he later wrote about his initial meeting with Kissinger, “I told him I had just interviewed Robert McNamara in Washington. That got his attention. He stopped badgering me, and then he did an extraordinary thing. He began to cry. But no, not real tears. Before my eyes, Henry Kissinger was acting. ‘Boohoo, boohoo,’ Kissinger said, pretending to cry and rub his eyes. ‘He’s still beating his breast, right? Still feeling guilty.’ He spoke in a mocking, singsong voice and patted his heart for emphasis.” <br /> <br />McNamara died in 2009, at the same age Kissinger is today—ninety-three—but his belated public struggle with his conscience helped leaven his clouded reputation. Now that he is nearing the end of his life, Kissinger must wonder what his own legacy is to be. He can rest assured that, at the very least, his steadfast support for the American superpower project, no matter what the cost in lives, will be a major part of that legacy. Unlike McNamara, however, whose attempt to find a moral reckoning Kissinger held in such scorn, Kissinger has shown little in the way of a conscience. And because of that, it seems highly likely, history will not easily absolve him.<br /><br />https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Centro_Popular_de_la_Memoria_Rosario.jpgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com