Wars bookended — and, in the end, defined — the life of Robert Strange McNamara. His first memory was of the last day of World War I, the War to End All Wars. And his role in America's most divisive conflict, the Vietnam War, branded him forever with this judgment, which he did not resist: "McNamara's War."

It also was Kennedy's War and Johnson's War and Nixon's War. Each of their deaths raised the Vietnam issue anew. Now McNamara's passing invites us to reflect on it again and to admit sadly that it continues to rankle and divide.

In his memoir, "In Retrospect," and in an Errol Morris film, "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara," he sought lessons and acknowledged mistakes, but stopped short of an apology. His ambivalence mirrors the nation's. Many who fought there became antiwar activists. Many still believe they served bravely in a noble cause.

Vietnam was not McNamara's only war. In World War II, his statistical analysis aided the strategic bombing of Japan. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was at the heart of the deliberations over what to do. Finally, near the end of his life, he spoke out forcefully for nuclear nonproliferation.

Despite such achievements as running Ford Motor Co. and later the World Bank, where he pushed for poverty reduction, he will be remembered for Vietnam.

Call it McNamara's Lesson 12: The fog of war long outlasts the warriors.

— Newsday, Melville, N.Y.