[lbo-talk] McNamara on Multilateralism

[Michael Pollak]

Errol Morris's new film about Robert McNamara (_Fog of War_) is kind of
interesting, not so much for insight into the man (who IMHO still seems
pretty unselfknowing) but for the history that intersects with his life,
e.g., the firebombing of Japan and the Cuban missile crisis, both of which
he casts a pretty scary light on.

But McNamara did have one very simple argument for multilateralism based
on the limits of reason.  He said the problem with reason is that we tend
to see what we want to believe, and the only check on this is another
perspective.  And for that reason alone, he states unequivocally that the
US should never go to war unilaterally.  Because if we can't make our case
to other countries who share our values, it means it's not a good enough
case.  He says if we'd followed this simple rule, there never would have
been a Vietnam, because all of our allies were against it: Germany, Italy,
Britain, France.

Mind you, it won't prevent all mistakes.  It wouldn't have prevented the
Kosovo war when other options were possible.  But it wouldn't be a bad
first cut.

Michael