By Bill Devol
Robert Strange McNamara died this week. His decisions as Secretary of Defense from 1961 until 1968 helped kill nearly 60,000 Americans in the Vietnam War.
I have a friend that has always said the most horrible disease on earth wasn’t long enough or painful enough for Robert S. McNamara.
Joseph L. Galloway, a columnist for the McClatchy Newspapers, started his piece about McNamara’s death with the following sentence:
“Well, the aptly named Robert Strange McNamara has finally shuffled off to join LBJ and Dick Nixon in the 7th level of Hell.”
Mr. Galloway is referring to the part of the Seventh Circle of Hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy where murderers are boiled in a river of blood for all eternity.
Not all the biggest players in the Vietnam War are dead yet. The most famous future member of the Seventh Circle of Hell who is still on the right side of the grass is 86-year-old Henry Kissinger, former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of lesser-known people that helped get Americans killed in Vietnam; most of them are older than I am. Most of the Vets from Vietnam are older than I am. Most of the people that protested the Vietnam War are older than I am.
I will be 55 in August. I was born the year after the Korean War ended and just about the time President Eisenhower was letting America dip its toes into the bloody cesspool of Vietnam.
Here we are 40 years after Robert McNamara’s last day as Secretary of Defense, and people still hate his guts. Lyndon B. Johnson’s last day as President was 40 years ago, and people still think of all the Americans he got killed. Dick Nixon’s first day as President was 40 years ago, and he will be remembered for bombing Cambodia and sending troops into Laos and extending the Vietnam War for political reasons, thereby ascending to his second term over a big pile of dead Americans.
Vietnam ended 35 years ago. Korea ended 56 years ago. World War II ended nearly 65 years ago. None of those wars will really be over until the last person that lived through those wars finally goes to their reward.
I mention these things because I want to give Dubya, VP Dick, Rummy, Wolfowitz, et al., some idea of how long their names will be linked to needlessly dead Americans. All things being equal, there should still be someone willing to spit on their graves clear into the next century.
People take getting people killed rather personally.
That brings me to the pile of dead Americans we can blame on President Obama.
Officially, President Obama’s pile of dead Americans hasn’t reached 100. In the scheme of things, that’s not that many dead Americans; for the families of those dead Americans, however, the number is significant.
Governor Sanford and Senator Ensign got caught with their pants down. Farrah Fawcett died. Billy Mays died. Ed McMahon died. Michael Jackson died. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a dead celebrity or someone’s naughty bits.
Governor Sarah Palin (in hip waders) wanted to explain how real winners quit before the job is done, and networks flew their first team up to Alaska to interview an ex-beauty queen with the mental agility of Jello.
Americans die in Afghanistan (a war that would have been over if Dubya hadn’t started his wet dream war in Iraq.) and Americans die to make Iraq safe for multinational oil conglomerates, and we get file footage because everybody is out covering Sarah Palin and worrying about who really fathered Paris, Prince, and Blanket.
Once the Democrats screw up National Health Insurance, they will have blown the two biggest wishes of the people that gave them their paper majority…they will have failed to end the war and to make health care affordable for everyone. Hell, if we could get the Democrats to starve a few old people or kick some orphans in the teeth, we’d have the Republican Party.
Hey, Democrats, on November 2, 2010, there are going to be some elections. We get to pass judgment on everyone in the House of Representatives and on one-third of the Senate. Perhaps you should get off your asses and start giving us what we want.
Back to my point…Yes, I’m still pissed that Robert S. McNamara tried to get my father killed and that he succeeded in getting so many other people killed.
Dubya and his crew might as well relax. They will be associated with lying to get Americans killed, torturing our prisoners of war, and shooting old men in the face long after I’m gone.
I can hold a grudge for a long time. My final wishes are to be cremated and have my ashes divided up into small piles which my daughters are to blow into the eyes of my enemies.
Have a nice day.
