The picture of the world's greatest superpower killing or seriously injuring 1,000 noncombatants a week, while trying to pound a tiny backward nation into submission on an issue whose merits are hotly disputed, is not a pretty one.
Robert McNamaraIf we'd lost the war, we'd all have been prosecuted as war criminals. And I think he's right. He, and I'd say I, were behaving as war criminals.
Robert McNamaraI think the human race needs to think about killing. How much evil must we do to do good?
Robert McNamaraThey'll be no learning period with nuclear weapons. Make one mistake and you're going to destroy nations.
Robert McNamaraThe 'realist' conception of continuing old-fashioned 'balance of power' politics may have been well founded in the past, but it is inconsistent with our increasing interdependent world. On moral grounds alone there can be no justification for the 20th century level of killing. To settle disputes without violence must become the primary goal of foreign policy for every nation.
Robert McNamara