On the passing of Bob McNamara,
I think of what he inspired late in his life.
He was a smart guy that made many mistakes.
He understood what he did wrong after the fact and made public corrections.
Here, in outline, are but a few:
1.Empathize with your enemy
a. Be Prepared To Strike. Know your enemy may be also prepared. Never strike to justify your lies.
b. Always consider every consequence of any strike, even a loss.
c. Look at yourself through the eyes of your enemies. Know how your enemy considers you to be. Achievement of mutual goals IS possible without the loss of lives when both understand the history and culture of the each other. d. Without a display of wisdom, mutual destruction is possible.
e. War ends with destruction, death, or annihilation; such is the nature of war.
2.Rationality will NOT save people
a. The infallibility of the human condition may destroy nations.
b. Rationality of humans will allow self-destruction.
3.There IS something beyond one's self
a. To stress the value's of logic, ethics and morality is your responsibility to society.
b. Consequence is the greatest motivator.
4.MAXIMIZE YOUR EFFICIENCY
a. Be aware you must be politically and economically successful as well as militarily.
b. You must never have your responsibilities to other concerns, infrastructures or duties diminished in war times
5.Proportionality become the a guideline in war
a. There should be more of us left then them is poor logic.
b. If you lose a war, you will become a war criminal. Understand what it is that makes it immoral to kill when you lose a war, and not immoral when you win. Understand there is no moral difference.
6. Get the Data
a. Use the data. Think of all the options for all participants, even the enemy.
b. Share the data with your people. Share with All of your people.
c. Explain the data in detail to your people.
d. If your wartime situation worsens, admit so. Keep the people educated.
7.Beliefs and observations are both often wrong
a. Judgments are often only opinions.
b. Mindsets offer no new inputs.
c. Facts could become altered for political purposes
8.Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning
a. We can NOT always be right. Arrogance is NOT a strategy or tactic.
b. The strongest nation in the world should not apply economic, political, or military power unilaterally. Bullies are never appreciated.
c. If, as a nation, we can NOT convince similar nations with comparable values of the merits of our cause, our reasoning MUST be reevaluated reevaluated
d. NEVER authorize any action that you believe to be illegal or inhumane. Never engage in a conflict without the ability to withdraw at your option and still maintain dignity and honor.
e. If your soldiers die for political concerns; rather than military success, your cause is faulty
f. When a leader loses the insight of the people he leads, the justification for war must be questioned.
9. In order to accomplish good, you may have to engage evil. This idealogy has no logic, If you engage evil you become evil.
a. Any contact in engaging with evil deeds is evil.
b. Make sure you achieve good for the sake of good.
c. Humans should avoid killing humans.
d. Ethics and morality are not just words, they are principles of leadership.
10.Never say never
a. Do not put yourself in a position to close any doors.
b. If you do not answer the public questions that are asked; answer instead to question that you think should have been asked, you will lose favorable public opinion.
11. You can NOT change human nature
a. Accomplishments can be made, successes do happen, errors will occur, everyone makes mistakes. Admit both successes and errors.
b. The responsibility of war rest with a president. The course of a war rest with the people through proper representation and consideration by a president.
c. The fog of war will always exist. War is so complex; it is beyond the ability of the human mind to comprehend all variables and possibilities. Our judgment and understanding are not adequate.
d. Rationality and reason has human limits.
e. No one knows exactly what someone else may know, but everyone believes that they do.
f. Man shall not cease from exploring. At the end of exploration man will return from where he started and know the place for the first time.
Is it too late to wonder if GWB 43 understood?
