Fog of War: Post Class

To me, one of the things that was really shown in this is the power of perspective and how it shapes these war situations. One of the most obvious examples would be the quote McNamara brought up that if the Allies had lost the war, he would have been tried as a war criminal. I think this shows that a lot of idea of in just war the rules of how you conduct war morally becomes irrelevant. McNamara pretty much admitted that he committed war crimes, but because it was the U.S. and the Allies who determined what the rules of conduct were, he was free from any sort of legal guilt.

And this makes me wonder if that is a reason that McNamara is an advocate of an International Court that oversees things like the conduct of war. If the rules are pre-determined, or determined by more than just the winners, the idea of actually being able to measure and carry out just actions in war become more possible. It brings it more perspective and more fair rulings can be carried out.

Also, I think that this film helped change some of my perspectives because of how it helped put certain things into perspective. The example of the destruction of Japanese cities and comparing them to similar sized American cities really puts into perspective the damage and devastation that was happening in Japan. It would make me more inclined to believe that perhaps people who bombed were guilty of war crimes and perhaps the Atomic Bomb was not needed after all, though I am still undecided about that issue.