Mr. McNamara's Deadly Flow Charts
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David Ignatius was right on the mark with his July 7 column, "Certainty That Hit a Wall," on former defense secretary Robert McNamara.
Mr. McNamara's certainty regarding his way of winning the Vietnam War became the nation's tragedy. Wars are not won by systems analysis, and Mr. McNamara's crisp, slide-rule numbers presentations, put forth weekly for years, led to doom against an insurgent army. Aided and abetted by President Lyndon B. Johnson, he became a true believer in his own righteousness. Franklin D. Roosevelt would never have given the reins of war power to an appointed official. This was a key error.
Further, putting the flow charts before history turned out to be deadly. A study of insurgency techniques described by Charles de Gaulle (who knew something about fighting a losing war in Southeast Asia) and the Irish resistance fighter Michael Collins could have opened some doors for Mr. McNamara.
In the end, the defense secretary's public certainty on Vietnam became a personal, as well as national, tragedy for the United States, haunting us to this day.
ANNE MAHONEY ROBBINS
Rockville
