Nation: Real Security

Give more aid to poor nations, urges Robert McNamara

Even when he was U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara thought the nation had reached "the point at which it does not buy more security for itself simply by buying more military hardware." The greatest threat, he declared in an eerily prescient 1966 speech, comes from rebellious violence in poor countries. During his eleven years as president of the World Bank, McNamara's convictions have deepened, and last week, appearing at the University of Chicago to accept a $25,000 prize for promoting international understanding, the former Defense Secretary declared that "excessive military spending...

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