I watched the film The Post this week and I found it both interesting and entertaining. The film deals with the decision of The Washington Post to publish the Pentagon Papers in 1971. The papers were a secret study commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to examine America's involvement in the Vietnam War. Daniel Ellsberg made copies of the study and passed them to the New York Times. He later gave a copy to the Post.

In the film, the paper's publisher Katherine Graham played by Meryl Streep, is reluctant to publish as the Nixon Administration will use the courts to stop her. Graham was also conflicted as it would reveal that her friend, Robert McNamara lied repeatly about America's conduct and reasoning behind the war.

If anyone can be described as the war's architect then it was McNamara. He served two Presidents, John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, both of whom, held him in high regard. The decision to send troops and conduct an extensive bombing campaign was based on his advice. America told the world that the war was fought to save South Vietnam from Communism. The real reason was to contain China as she was seen as a threat to Asia. What the Pentagon Papers exposed was how deceitful the Presidents had been. The study also showed that McNamara had his doubts about the policy he was advocating. In public, he said all was going well and he urged President Johnson to send more troops to South Vietnam.

What sort of man advocates bombing of a country that had never attacked his own? What kind of man allows young men to be sent to fight when he has doubts about the policy he publicly supports and executes ?

The full might of the American military was used to attack North Vietnam and her ally the Viet Cong in the South. I watched Ken Burns recently documentary about the war. Burns tries to be even handed to both sides. The reality was that the United States intervened in a civil war and then told countless lies to the American people to justify its actions. McNamara was instrumental in this process. Could he described as a war criminal? A case can be made that he and Lyndon Johnson could both be indicted. No one was arrested as this was the Cold War and American leaders could not possibly be monsters. Could they?