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Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara Dies
foxnews.com ^ | 07/06/09 | Staff

Posted on 07/06/2009 6:21:18 AM PDT by DFG

Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara has died.

McNamara, 93, died at home in his sleep Monday morning, his wife Diana told The Associated Press. She said he had been in failing health for some time.

Known as a policymaker with a fixation for statistical analysis, McNamara was president of the Ford Motor Co. when President John F. Kennedy asked him to head the Pentagon in 1961.

McNamara worked for seven years as the defense secretary in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, longer than any other person in that post. He headed the war department during the build-up of forces in Vietnam.

He is considered the architect of the concept of "mutual assured destruction," a key feature of the nuclear arms race during the Cold War.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: dod; jfk; lbj; mcnamara; michigan; secdef; whizkids
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative
I know that was a very painfull time for the USA. But I am sure Mr McNamara felt the pain, just as Lyndon Johnson did, just as Richard Nixon did. Does anyone doubt that Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon LOVED this country ?. Bob McNamara doesn’t deserve hatred. God rest his soul. He served the United States of America. He was a patriot...

Huh?

61 posted on 07/06/2009 7:16:38 AM PDT by gogeo (Democrats want to support the troops by accusing them of war crimes.)
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To: Lazamataz

Well said.


62 posted on 07/06/2009 7:18:56 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: mad_as_he$$

Thanks to Walter Cronkite and a few other b*stards like him!


63 posted on 07/06/2009 7:22:43 AM PDT by Bigun ("It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." Voltaire)
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To: gorilla_warrior
Also well said!

Like Obama, his attitude was if your smarter than everybody it's ok to lie to them, sort of like the mudlums say you should lie to people who don't believe in your invisible friend in the sky.

64 posted on 07/06/2009 7:23:13 AM PDT by norraad ("What light!">Blues Brothers)
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To: DFG

I been Norman Mailered, Maxwell Taylored.
I been John O’Hara’d, McNamara’d.
I been Rolling Stoned and Beatled till I’m blind.
I been Ayn Randed, nearly branded
Communist, ‘cause I’m left-handed.
That’s the hand to use, well, never mind!

I been Phil Spectored, resurrected...

I just discovered somebody’s tapped my phone!

— Paul Simon,
“A Simple Desultory Philippic”


65 posted on 07/06/2009 7:23:55 AM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast ( Happy birthday Mr. President!)
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative
some of you sound like DU’er talking about Dick Cheney. Maybe I only see the parallel because I didn’t live through the 60s. And my experiance locking horns with some nutty liberals on campus in Athens. Hate is their trademark. But, it is important we hold ourselves to a higher standard...

Nice sentiment, sonny.

Conservatism demands informed opinions and positions, not some shallow "sounds-like" analysis.

When conservatives said Bill Clinton should be impeached because he broke the law, it was because he'd committed perjury...and that's an awkward position for the chief law enforcement officer of the United States.

When leftys said W should be impeached because he broke the law, there was no accusation that survived even a shallow legal analysis.

Yet, they were saying the same thing.

Spin is not a source of facts. You need to know the facts before you can know who's spinning...and that's what makes "sounds like" a laughable method of analysis.

66 posted on 07/06/2009 7:27:40 AM PDT by gogeo (Democrats want to support the troops by accusing them of war crimes.)
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To: meandog
The worst Secdef in my lifetime.

1. Simon Cameron 2. Robert S. McNamara 3. Donald Rumsfeld

I thought I was old. But you're really old. Simon Cameron predates even me.

67 posted on 07/06/2009 7:27:54 AM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
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To: mad_as_he$$

what is amazing- Giap has said in interviews before
his memoirs- the North lost a MILLION people!

The biggest reason we lost- Safe havens in Laos,Cambodia,
and North Vietnam!- sound familiar ? we know that Iran
is supplying and training terrorists groups in their
country- Pakistan (for a mutitude of reason’s) has let
terrorists live on their northern soil- hope we
don’t end up creating another Communist/Terrorist country.


68 posted on 07/06/2009 7:32:18 AM PDT by mj1234
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative
He knew nothing about military tactics, but never hesitated to hand pick targets and and provide a list of potential targets which were off limits for political reasons. He forced our military to fight with one hand tied behind their backs.

Then he gave our military a weapon that would not work and stuck with these weapons after he knew soldiers were dying because their weapons would jam and there wasn't enough ammunition. From Wikipedia:

"McNamara ordered the weapon be adopted unmodified, in its current configuration, for immediate issue to all services, despite receiving reports noting several deficiencies with the M16 as a service rifle, including the lack of a chrome-lined bore and chamber, the 5.56 mm projectile's instability under Arctic conditions, and the fact that large quantities of 5.56 mm ammunition required for immediate service were not available."

He treated our soldiers as if they were inconsequential pawns. Bad man indeed.

69 posted on 07/06/2009 7:33:44 AM PDT by CharacterCounts (November 4, 2008 - the day America drank the Kool-Aid)
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To: Red Badger

>> McNamara was responsible for the deaths of 50,000 young Americans <<

I don’t think I’d go so far as to put it that way. I believe McNamara was basically just going along with what LBJ wanted. Let’s put the blame where it really belongs, directly on the head of LBJ. By excoriating McNamara, we let LBJ off too easily.

Now one can plausibly say that McNamara was the archetypical coward because although he eventually came to realize the wrongness of LBJ’s strategy, he didn’t speak against it in public nor did he do the truly honorable thing and resign. But the world is full of cowards, whereas the evil genius of an LBJ is a much rarer phenomenon — and fortunately so.


70 posted on 07/06/2009 7:37:47 AM PDT by Hawthorn
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative
some of you sound like DU’er talking about Dick Cheney. Maybe I only see the parallel because I didn’t live through the 60s. And my experiance locking horns with some nutty liberals on campus in Athens. Hate is their trademark. But, it is important we hold ourselves to a higher standard.

Well, I lived through the 60's and you're absolutely right that we should hold ourselves to a higher standard and not be filled with anger and hatred.

But the unfortunate truth is that some of "us" are as ugly and mean as some of "them."

Just not ALL of us. I hated what he did. I did not hate him. Prayers for his family.

71 posted on 07/06/2009 7:39:18 AM PDT by ohioWfan (Proud Mom of a Bronze Star recipient!)
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To: DFG

Another globalist bites the dust and meets his boss in a very hot place.


72 posted on 07/06/2009 7:42:18 AM PDT by Quix (POL Ldrs quotes fm1900 2 presnt: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2130557/posts?page=81#81)
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To: DFG

I will not comment on his Soul; that’s for the Lord to judge. I will however comment on his despicable political manipulation and resulting waste of human life during the Vietnam War years. Thousands, on both sides, died needlessly due to this man’s and his cohorts mishandling of the war. I attribute his behavior and the enablers around him to liberal/democrat/socialist beliefs. May the Souls of those departed caused by this man’s deeds now rest in peace. Read H.R. McMaster’s ‘Dereliction of Duty.’ I threw this book against the wall several times while reading it in sheer rage over how the Vietnam War was run. Our military deserved better.

Regards.


73 posted on 07/06/2009 7:44:00 AM PDT by Sine_Pari
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To: Mr. K

Ho wmany young American men died because they rushed the M-16 into the field. No cleaning kits and it was not ready. A horrible disgusting man. The Vietnam War by the way was JFK/LBJ’s war. Hopefully Beelzebub/Lucifer are waiting for McNamara with LBJ.


74 posted on 07/06/2009 7:45:58 AM PDT by Frantzie (Remember when Bush was President and Americans had jobs (and ammo)?)
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To: Lazamataz

“Bad man. Good death.”

As Betty Davis said about her enemy, Joan Crawford, when she heard Joan had died: “Never speak ill of the dead. Joan Crawford is dead. Good.”


75 posted on 07/06/2009 7:46:11 AM PDT by GatĂșn(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)
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To: Red Badger
McNamara was responsible for the deaths of 50,000 young Americans
Bullsh*t. Vietnam always was and always will be LBJ's war - period.
If anything, McNamara helped win WWII in a big way, which no one here on FR has mentioned or probably was even aware of.
76 posted on 07/06/2009 7:51:23 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative
But, it is important we hold ourselves to a higher standard.

I am tired of people on FR saying this. Would you say that about Stalin? This guy was responsible for thousands of deaths of our own soldiers. Why should anything nice be said about him?

77 posted on 07/06/2009 7:51:53 AM PDT by saminfl ( FUBO)
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To: DFG

He was a lying liar who lied.


78 posted on 07/06/2009 7:52:07 AM PDT by anniegetyourgun
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To: DFG

I’m guessing he won’t have very many Vietnam veterans crying at his funeral.


79 posted on 07/06/2009 7:52:52 AM PDT by smokingfrog ( Don't mess with the mockingbird! /\/\ http://tiny.cc/freepthis)
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative
We don’t do that on Free Republic. Ok bud.

Laz is a long time Freeper and really doesn't need a short timer telling him what 'we' do on Free Republic. You're free to pretend that Robert McNamara was a great American patriot if you want to but I believe him to have been an arrogant, incompetent failure who has some of the blood of 58,000 American men killed in Viet Nam on his hands...LBJ has his share too.

80 posted on 07/06/2009 7:53:14 AM PDT by pgkdan ( I miss Ronald Reagan!)
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