the fog of war

after watching the fog of war for the second time, i was quite stunned by one of robert mcnamara's "life lessons." the first lesson that he provided was "empathize with your enemy." in that section mcnamara goes to great lengths to explain how the kennedy administration's ability to empathize with khrushchev's predicament was absolutely essential. in a later segment he notes the johnson administration's failure to empathize with the vietnamese leaders as a primary reason for the escalation and ultimately the failure of the vietnam war. furthermore, as if mcnamara's detailed and engaging narratives were not enough to press home the importance of the first life lesson, errol morris' entire film is a testimony to the centrality of this lesson. before seeing the film i bought the prevailing cultural assessment about mcnamara (i.e., that he was a warmonger, prideful to a tragic degree, responsible for vietnam, etc.) but by the end of it i was able to see him as a brilliant, willful man, who was as proud of his successes and as prone to mistakes as the rest of us. the only significant difference is that his responsibility was much greater and, as a result, his mistakes had much more significant consequences. i do not mean to suggest that i do not consider mcnamara in some sense responsible for the travesty that was vietnam. however, the movie helped me to understand how he found himself in that terribly difficult predicament.

all of that is to say that i have yet to learn mcnamara's life lesson. i do not often show empathy to my enemy by giving them the benefit of the doubt, assuming that their intentions are pure or even trying to understand how their familial/social/psychological context lead them to embrace a particular position. instead of trying to understand their worldview i tend to hammer away with them with what i believe to be the 'facts' as well as my (often shoddy) analysis. by doing that i do not develop a deeper understanding of their position, nor am i able to more fully nuance my own. this inability to empathize with my enemies has been readily evident in the way that i have processed the iraq war. i have not attempted to understand the philosophy that underlies neo-con policy, the fear that seems to drive much of the civilian response or any of the other reasons that reasonable, decent people consider this war just. as a result, my desire and ability to dialogue about the war has slowly abated and i have found myself on more than one occasion wondering "how any christian in their right mind could support this war" or "how in the world this administration could make a reasonable connection between the decentralized 'war on terror' and the need to make war upon and rebuild secular, islamic nation state." although it sounds, and is, cliche, i need to work on truly understanding others before seeking to be understood.

Lord Christ, forgive me for unwittingly playing the role of the elder brother, who couldn't seem to set aside his understanding of righteousness in order to empathize with and embrace his repentant brother. by your grace, help me to empathize with my enemy, as you did, believing that our Father can indeed make all things, even our enemies, new.

if you've seen the the fog of war i'd love to hear your reflections.