Fog Of War Analysis

In the documentary Fog of War, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara names eleven lessons he feels he has learned about war during the course of his life. They all come with a certain amount of merit, but the three that stand out the most are Lesson #1: empathize with your enemy, Lesson #4: maximize efficiency, and Lesson #9: in order to do good, you may have to engage in evil. Overall, these lessons are the most difficult to both execute in war and explain to the American public while simultaneously being the most important to abide by in order to accomplish victory in war.
The first lesson that is extremely important is the lesson McNamara labels as Lesson #1, and it is to empathize with your enemy; this lesson could also be phrased as deeply understanding
In the documentary, McNamara specifically points out an inefficient mission during WWII to refuel planes in China that were trying to target the Japanese homeland; the mission was inefficient because of the enormous resources being used for little, none, or negative output towards the desired outcome. This lesson is important because of several reasons, including the transparent and democratic nature of our society, the responsible use of resources, and the effect of efficiency on positive outcomes for forces. The first reason is the nature of our society, which demands accountability from policy-makers for the use of taxpayer money. The second is the responsible use of resources, which relates to the idea that the military does have a limited number of resources which must be used responsibly in order to have enough for every mission. The third is the effect of efficiency on outcomes; this just means that with quicker and more effective uses of resources, the military can do its job better. The more efficiently the military can distribute resources, the faster it can execute its