"The obscenity of war is lost on most Americans..."

"The obscenity of war is lost on most Americans, and that drains the death of Robert McNamara of any real significance."

This is the last line of Bob Herbert's column in today's New York Times. Bob has been consistently so right on about war for the last 8 years that I'm sharing the link here.

Do read it: After the War Was Over

And for a more detailed and indepth look at McNamara, do read Alexander Cockburn's piece on Counterpunch: McNamara: From the Tokyo Firestorm to the World Bank

Despite the horror McNamara oversaw during his heyday, the usual admiring soliloquies will flood the media and we'll be subjected to how honorable, intelligent, and self-reflective McNamara really was.

I expect the media to pat itself on the back as it introduces a smidgen of questioning what passes for McNamara's "introspection". His rhetoric is hard to ignore as the movie going public had to confront, in the broad daylight of "Fog of War", whether he was a war criminal. That passes for introspection and will not, of course, require a serious answer... or a serious look at what we continue to do with war, in war, and about war.

Will Michael Jackson's body at Staples overshadow the news of McNamara's demise?
Will McNamara's body be flown around the country like Reagan's was?
Stay tuned!

So far, 2009 has been a helluva year for celebrities, one big name death overshadowing - so to speak - another.... It is almost as if 2009 is The Year to Die. Who is next?