Web Letters: Remembering Robert McNamara

Schell's reporting may have influenced McNamara's resignation. I saw the The Fog of War, and it deserved an award. It was interesting that McNamara served on Curtis LeMay's staff during WWII doing bomb damage assessments. He would be LeMay's boss as secretary of defense.

While nuclear weapons concentrated the destruction of Japanese cities into a short time period, the fire raids on Japanese cities would have caused many more casualties. Area bombing was used by all sides, in both theaters of operation, against civilian population centers in WWII. The purpose was to terrorize the work force that produced war materials, and, if they were lucky, hit the production plants too. But war production was not significantly affected, and the workers went back to work. Terrorism, over time, tends to push people into defending themselves. The leadership, civilian and military, in Vietnam were veterans of WWII, and were impressed by destruction caused by area bombing, but it was only later that its effectiveness was properly analyzed.

I don't know if the bombing in your article was area bombing, but terror was an element.

Pervis James Casey

Riverside, CA

Robert McNamara died unrepentant at age 93. His main accomplishment was his central role in getting us into and then directing the Vietnam War: an insane, gigantic crime against humanity. McNamara lied and conspired to get us into it. He took the lead in it.

There was another man who died last year with almost no one taking notice. His name was Anthony Russo, who died at the age of 71. This man had inside access to what was really going on under McNamara and he courageously did all that he could to expose the lies and to stop the madness of the war. He was prosecuted by federal courts and persecuted mercilessly, both mentally and physically, by federal agents during this time. He told me all about how his jailers stomped on his hands and feet and how Nixon’s goons would pull him over at night and work him over on the streets of Santa Monica. All of this really took a toll on him.

Few today remember him or what he did. He was guy who tapped the conscience of his then-close friend and Rand colleague Daniel Ellsberg into leaking to the press that which came to be known as the Pentagon Papers.

Here’s to you, my friend Tony. Rest in peace.

Jim Gibson

Laguna Woods, CA