It is a sad commentary that some 58,000 Americans and perhaps up to 2 million vietnamese had to die in a War that the chief architect belatedly acknowledged was a tragic miscalculation, based on flawed assumptions.

As the horrific past of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge reign of terror is once again in the forefront of World News (BBC) with a few high profile trials, we have to wonder to what purpose did we serve. Cambodia was the most stable and neutral country, until Nixon - Kissinger widened the war to engulf this peaceful kingdom.

McNamara was asked in a 1995 interview why, in 1965, when he realized it was a civil war, and not the discredited communist domino theory conflict he had earlier portray it as, he didn't disengage. His reply was that he didn't want to give aid and comfort to the enemy by admitting he was wrong. That is the real tragedy. He could have stopped the war before it spread to Cambodia, prevented an additional 30,000 American deaths, and spared North Vietnam the barbaric carpet bombing by B-52s. Oh how Jesus must of wept.

In the end, Vietnam accomplished by force what it had earlier attempted to accomplished through a democratic vote. Because our insecurity and fear was so great, we denied that possibility, and plunged our nation into profound crises. Ho Chi Minh might have become our friend, but we made it impossible for he and his country to do anything but resist the U.S. War against them.

The United States was changed forever by the Vietnam War. President Nixon was forced from office in disgrace, and the American people lost blind faith in their government that carries over to this day. Note how much anti-government sentiment is expressed on this site.

Vietnam had a profound, often shattering, life changing effect on so many of us that we will carry it to the grave. For that reason, Robert McNamara will be remembered as the war criminal whose policies tore America apart, never to be repaired in his lifetime.