Productive Debate Only Goes So Far

To the editors:



Re: “Wrecking a Conversation,” Rebecca D. O’Brien, column, May 22.

I completely agree that “listening and engaging in productive debate” with someone who holds different political views from one’s own is a very useful activity. However, I do not believe that allowing Robert McNamara to speak in 1966 or John McCain just last week would provide such an experience.

As has only become clearer with the passing years, the administrations that conducted the Vietnam War systematically lied about what our military was truly doing in Southeast Asia. Would listening to McNamara lie once more contribute to anything productive? Does anyone really believe that President Bush or any administration official ever publicly says anything worthwhile about the war in Iraq? The same goes for John McCain. As he panders more and more to the evangelical right and other demographics that he hasn’t relied on for votes in the past, his words quickly become devoid of any honesty. If Donald Rumsfeld were to speak at Harvard tomorrow, there is not a chance that I would stifle my wrath.



ERIC D. BIEWENER ’06

May 22, 2006