I saw the documentary “Why We Fight” over the weekend, and found it powerful and disturbing. The film argues — persuasively, I think — that President Eisenhower’s 1961 warnings about the “military industrial complex” have largely come true.
Why are we in Iraq? As the film shows, most citizens have only the foggiest notion. The invasion had little to do with Bush rhetoric about “spreading freedom” and finding weapons of mass destruction.
Instead, the film argues, our intervention in Iraq, as in many other past conflicts, had a lot more to do with the incestuous ties among the arms industry, Congress and the military, who work together to justify and fund America’s vast and highly profitable (for some) arsenal of weaponry.
Sound far-fetched? See the movie and judge for yourself. Every American, right or left, who cares about our democracy should see this unsettling film.
Has anyone on the blog seen it? What did you think?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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19 Comments
I have it saved on queue on Netflix. But it’s not out on DVD yet.
Although I don’t think it is one-sided on the military contract companies, but a big influence none the less.
Its a jobs program. There is so much waste and war is so lucrative for them.
For instance, I read a few months back that the USA had a restriction of the sales of fighter jets to the country of India and Pakistan. The reason why is to prevent a huge arms build-up. Well! That didn’t last long.
A Congressional member of a certain district in Texas who area included Lockheed Martin. Lookheed was about to scrap their F-16 program and work exclusivly on the F-22. They would layoff around 1500 people for the F-16 shutdown.
The Congress person decided to slip in the removal of restrictions to India and Pakistan and give them favorable status on F-16’s. It was slip in in obsurely in some unleated bill like all the pork projects.
Once that happen, Lookheed immeditally sold like 20 of them to India, it wasn’t but a few months later and Pakistan ordered 20 to keep up. And the cold war against those two countries will continue.
The interest of those two countries and the USA is for them not to have an arms build-up, but it if saves 1500 jobs, they won’t care.
Basically if you work for a military contractor (Boeing being one of them), then these are good times for you. I bet they aren’t against the war.
Was the director a bleeding-heart whiney leftist liberal?
Hmm, let me google to find out…
Hadn’t heard of this. Thanks for letting us know it is out there. I’ll have to check it out.
I’m going tomorrow when I have time.
Anybody want to go with me?
Oh boy…another movie that presents one side of an issue, and will be taken as fact.
Yep…gotta love Hollywood and its ability to present ‘facts’.
Gonna be a hate fest on this one…enjoy.
raptor,
As opposed to the ‘love fest’ that is the Right Wing world view?
CrusaderX,
Oh, you mean bleeding hearts like Eisenhower, whose warning about the military-industrial complex turned out to be prophetic?
CF, how could you forget? IOKIYAAR
Where is this film showing?
Also, is it suitable for kids?
You can view the movie (at least part of it) on the net. I saw it several weeks ago, not long after I sat down and watched JFK again. Funny how JFK starts out with the same speech from Eisenhower…
I’ll hunt for the link and post it.
If you want the traditional movie experience, it is palying at the Premiere Palace on East Kellogg, near Wal-Mart.
I wonder why were seem to be in such a documentary meme?
Here’s one. Download also available.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8494.htm
“we seem” – sorry
Remember when Randy suggested the documentary “March of Penguins”. That documentary won an Oscar for best in its class. I saw the movie in the theatre and bought a copy for my daughter on Christmas. I liked it, but it seemed to me that the film was what good television should be, not a movie.
I wonder if the same is true for this “Why We Fight”. I’m tempted to speculate that the liberal view has been so successfully squelched, that instead of seeing it on TV, we now have to go to movies for our daily dose.
Ooops, I apologize, I had a moment of being stricken with Republican disease. It can happen when you are around too many with such infected paranoid minds.
Actually it’s not pork as both India and Packistan pay for those F-16 aircraft.
We do control freedom of speech legally through perjury.
It time to hold elected official to the truth. No more “WMD,” “Terrorists,” “Patriot Act,” “Spreading democracy,” etc.
We politely call lying: rhetoric.
Our elected officials need to be held to a higher standard then they’re currently getting away with.
WarH8R,I have some left-over Warren theatre gift certificates from Christmas. I’d have to go to the earliest matinee. My son has guitar lessons on Thursday evenings.
JR, the above would be extended to you too.
Very kind of you to offer DD, thanks. But I am going to the dog show. (Yup the same one Hank is going to but I don’t expect I’ll see him) But thanks the invite.
Didn’t make it to the movie yet. Maybe tomorrow.