The fog of war

Filmmaker Errol Morris has an op-ed in today's New York Times about why he thinks John Kerry lost the election. You should read the whole thing, but the bottom line is that he thinks that Kerry should've talked more his opposition to the Vietnam war. I happen to disagree, largely for the same reasons as Althouse, but I think that Morris knows of what he speaks.

The dude made anti-Bush commercials for MoveOn.org during the election, styled after his highly successful Apple/Mac "switch" series, so you know we probably don't have much in common politically. But his most recent film, the excellent "The Fog Of War: 11 Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara," was to me the most effective anti-war argument I have heard, before or since. The film, of course, centers around Robert McNamara and his involvement in WWII and the Vietnam War, but the parallels to Iraq are obvious and chilling. But he doesn't belabor the point. He hardly even mentions it, to be honest, and that's why it works.

I was discussing this with some of my (I'll assume, safely, I hope; let me know if I'm wrong, you two) anti-war friends the other night. They agreed that it was far more effective than "Fahrenheit 9/11." Indeed, and by their account, War turned one of our more partisan friends (I harbor no illusions that he frequents this blog) away somewhat from Michael Moore and "Fahrenheit."

I've said it a hundred times before, and I'll say it again here: there are plenty of ways and reasons to criticize Bush and the Iraq war without making shit up. "The Fog of War" is one of them.