Thursday, August 7, 2008

Firebombing Japan and the Atom Bomb




A clip from the breathtaking documentary, "The Fog of War."


Posted by Jay at 8/07/2008

2 comments:

SuiginChou said...

I always wanted to watch this! Thanks for reminding me it exists! Do they have it on video, Mr. Blockbuster? :) I will go rent it from my Blockbuster first thing Monday if they do!

As for the sample you gave us ... all I'll say is, talk is cheap. He sits behind the comfort of a PBS television camera and admits to having behaved as a war criminal. Notice the careful selection of words -- he doesn't admit "I am a war criminal" or even "I was one but I changed." He denounces the identity and escapes into the safety of action, of verbs and of their transience, and says "I acted like a war criminal." I'm sorry, sir, but with all due respect, you and I both know:
a) that acting like a war criminal makes you a war criminal, and
b) that if you were genuinely remorseful you would have turned yourself in to the Hague, if not to the Japanese authorities, the moment that remorse first conquered your spirit be it in 1995 or 1945.

Whether Robert McNamara should be vilified or lauded I'll save for men and women who know much more world history than I; but I will say this -- this documentary, this interview, is an invaluable artifact for future generations. It is a modern-day Chingbirok, a modern-day account from one of the men who ran the war saying "war is bad, and if you can avoid it, please do, and if you can't avoid it, then please end it asap with no apologies".

August 9, 2008 at 4:41 PM  
Jay said...

Yep, we have it, as do most if not all blockbusters. You should see it for the awesome soundtrack if nothing else.

August 10, 2008 at 12:18 AM  

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