Fred Kaplan remembers Robert McNamara, who died the other day. Mr. McNamara was, of course, one of the prime architects of the Vietnam War at its inception, though to his credit, he later tried to dial it down…and, still later, apologized and admitted some pretty deadly errors.
One wonders if Donald Rumsfeld will ever have the self-awareness to try and atone. His recent statement that he regrets how they happened to foresake compliance with the Geneva Conventions gives one hope. On the other hand, Rumsfeld doesn't regret that they did it; only that they seem to have done it sorta by accident.