The Fog of War

This documentary is called: The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

I saw this on tv a couple years ago and thought it was really interesting. It is basically a long interview with Robert McNamara who was the U.S. Secretary of Defense during Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War. These days a lot of the responsibility and blame for losing the vietnam war is placed on him. I guess this is a rare type of documentary because how often do you get such an indepth first hand account about such a major world event?

I haven't rewatched much of it yet but if I remember rightly, this documentary also has a really good musical score. If you have the time I hope you watch it and enjoy it.

Great quote from the documentary:

*On the fire-bombing of Japanese cities towards the end of WW2*
"[Airforce General Curtis] LeMay said if we'd lost the war, we'd all have been prosecuted as war criminals. And I think he's right! He, and I'd say, I, were behaving as war criminals.

LeMay recognised that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side had lost, but what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?" - McNamara

Interesting Theory

While reading an article forcasting a further fall in the value of the U.S. Dollar in 2007, I stumbled across the following theory regarding the invasion of Iraq, and possible future invasion of Iran:

Chapman's Dec. 30 newsletter documented that the international move away from the dollar has already begun:...

....Iran's switch to euros is the greatest threat yet to dollar supremacy. The usage of the euro is now universal in Iran and it will spread to other Islamic oil-producing countries as well. The share of dollars as a percentage of OPEC foreign reserves has fallen from 67 percent to 65 percent in the first half of 2007.

Iran's decision to hold only Euros may prompt a U.S. decision to launch a pre-emptive attack, Chapman speculated, with the public argument being Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons in defiance of the U.N. Security Council.

"Saddam Hussein signed his death warrant," Chapman argued, "when he got the U.N. to agree that he could hold his oil-for-food reserves in euros. Ahmadinejad appears determined to go down the same path."

Is this a further example of international flagranomics at play? Indubitably!