Robert Strange McNamara

Robert Strange McNamara is the former Secretary of Defense for President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He served as president of the World Bank (1968-1981). He is Honorary Trustee at the Aspen Institute, on the advisory committee for the Population Institute, was involved in the Pentagon Papers project, and is believed to be a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Khurram Husain wrote in the November/December 2003 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:


 * "When Robert McNamara entered the Pentagon as defense secretary, he brought with him a clutch of youthful Rand analysts deeply steeped in studies of SAC vulnerability and counterforce. They came to be called the 'Whiz Kids'."


 * Director Ex Officio, National Council on Science and the Environment
 * Co-Chairperson Emeriti, Global Coalition for Africa
 * Director, World Future Society
 * Council, Population Action International
 * Advisory Council, World Food Prize
 * Life Trustee, Urban Institute
 * Emeritis Member National Advisory Council, Reading is Fundamental
 * Founding Member, Earth Council Alliance
 * Advisory Council (2008), Technoserve

His wife was Margaret McNamara.

Operation Iraqi Freedom
Former Secretary of Defense and president of the World Bank, Robert McNamara, "repentant Vietnam War architect ... breaks his silence on Iraq: The United States, he says, is making the same mistakes all over again."


 * "'We're misusing our influence,' he said in a staccato voice that had lost none of its rapid-fire engagement. 'It's just wrong what we're doing. It's morally wrong, it's politically wrong, it's economically wrong.'"


 * See Operation Iraqi Freedom: Military and Political Dissent.

Related Sourcewatch

 * preemptive war
 * revolution in military affairs
 * USS Liberty

Publications

 * Booksearch, Barnes & Noble.com.

Profiles

 * Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense Biographies, Defenselink.mil, accessed July 28, 2005.
 * Robert Strange McNamara, Secretary of Defense, CNN Cold War Profile.
 * Robert McNamara in the Wikipedia.

Articles & Commentary

 * Khurram, Hussain, "Neocons: The men behind the curtain," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, November/December 2003.
 * Fred Kaplan, "The Evasions of Robert McNamara. What's true and what's a lie in The Fog of War?" Slate, December 19, 2003.
 * Doug Saunders, "'It's Just Wrong What We're Doing'. In an exclusive interview, repentant Vietnam War architect Robert McNamara breaks his silence on Iraq: The United States, he says, is making the same mistakes all over again," Globe & Mail (Canada), January 25, 2004; posted on Veterans for Peace website.