It’s always hard to say what makes me laugh, because- look, at the end of the day, this stuff all had a Very Specific Purpose, and it wasn’t a good one. Do I laugh at the failures? Because often those failures took lives, and even the successes would, inevitably take lives. On the one hand, one should never give this subject matter the sort of… breathless mythology you see the most miserable sorts of geopolitical cheerleaders on Reddit of the like do, but similarly, there is a compelling history and story to be gleaned from each program, no matter the intention. These are not things to be taken lightly, yet one must approach it with a certain degree of humored clarity, lest you turn metal and wire and cordite and explosive into idols on a warped altar, shunned or worshipped all the same.
(for obvious reasons)

