Why We Fight

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Starring: Gore Vidal
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Eugene Jarecki
Studio: Sony Pictures
Release Date: 2006-06-27
Why We Fight is the provocative new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (The Trials of Henry Kissinger) and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Named after the series of short films by legendary director Frank Capra that explored America’s reasons for entering World War II, Why We Fight surveys a half-century of military conflicts, asking how – and answering why – a nation of, by and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a government system whose survival depends on an Orwellian state of constant war.

The Why We Fight DVD features interviews and observations by a "who’s who" of military and Washington insiders including Senator John McCain, Gore Vidal, and Dan Rather. Beginning with President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s prescient 1961 speech warning of the rise of the "military industrial complex," Why We Fight moves far beyond the headlines of various American military operations to the deeper questions of why America seemingly is always at war. What are the forces – political, economic, and ideological – that drive us to clash against an ever-changing enemy? Just why does America fight? Unforgettable, powerful and at times disturbing, Why We Fight on DVD will challenge viewers long after the last fade-out.

Why We Fight tells the story
A dash of the Michael Moore style of documentary, but much more factual and accurate in historical basis for the thesis: Sometimes America fights because the Industrial Military Complex has more power than elected leaders. Great interviews with McCain back before his quest for the Presidency led him off the real Straight Talk Express. Try to ignore a couple of the more slanted interviews... Gore Vidal is full of it! Otherwise, much food for thought that needs to be considered.

Why we fight
I bought this movie on advice from a dear friend. Aside from the content itself (intriguing and somewhat bothersome from a moral point of view) the DVD came in 'mint' condition and arrived prior to its expected delivery date. I would definitely purchase DVD's from this seller again.

The war is the continuation of... BUSINESS by other means !!!
Von Clausewitz once stated that "War is the continuation of politics by other means" but this excellent documentary shows us that modern wars are being waged with other purposes in mind.

One should watch this DVD immediately after Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and Alex Gibney's "Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room" to get a glimpse of how corporate America have been intertwined with politics in the last few years. If this trend persists, maybe America's future will be the same as the ones so brilliantly described by Paul Kennedy's book "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers"

"You begin to wonder... there's something wrong with the entire system.."
Heartsick. As I should be. As any human being with a shred of humanity left should be. And no one more so than the patriotic American.

"Why We Fight," Oliver Stone's stunning documentary on the real reasons behind the wars in which Americans are and have been involved, is a film every American should view, and more than once. Is war ever the right answer? I will not argue that it is not. There are such times. And there have been wars that I believe we should have fought. Self-defense, yes. In defense of human rights, yes. But, honestly, how many such wars have there been? Few.

Begin with Harry Truman (to date, the only president whose popularity rating was lower than that of George W. Bush at 23 percent) and the order he gave to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. As the documentary points out, it had nothing to do with ending the war or forcing the Japanese to surrender. They had been attempting to surrender for months. Truman gave the order to drop the bomb for the thrill of an explosion, the thrill of power, the thrill of a blood lust. Or perhaps one can just call it ... thrill of imperialism. That deadly explosion was the opening of a door that has never closed again, and it never will. This is now the legacy of Truman, and that day, the day we took off our white hats forever.

Eisenhower predicted in his parting speech from the presidency that we were on the road to building a military-industrial complex. He was right. Most wars since then (and several before then) have been for power, for imperialism, for an arrogance in seeing our way superior to all others, and now, our wars are for oil. The documentary interviews countless military experts, news figures and scholars, runs disturbing video clips of politicians - including film of George Bush and Dick Cheney dishing out propaganda to justify an unjustifiable war - telling blatant lies about the reasons we were attacking Iraq and later chuckling over it. (There's even a clip from a current presidential candidate, and one wonders at the disparity in his message here, even as he scampers away at the bidding of the vice president, and his message in the current campaign. Huh. Not where my vote is going.)

A connection to 9/11? Heartrending interviews with the father of a son killed in one of the two towers in New York on that date progress to show how one American was pulled in by that propaganda, felt the hate he was told to feel, sought the vengeance, requested his son's name be painted on the side of a missile that became a part of "shock and awe," only to find out, much later, the truth of that day. That some ninety percent of the casualties in Iraq that day were boys like his. Children. Housewives. Workers. Families in their homes at the break of what seemed an ordinary dawn. And that it had nothing to do with "freedom." For anyone.

Defending freedom? Defending nothing more than corporate and political interests. At the brink of a time when we are once again expected to vote in a presidential election, one can only hope for documentaries such as this to give Americans pause. As one military figure in this film remarks, it is not that we do not have the information we need. We have access to the Internet. We have access to all kinds of information. If we wish to know, we can know. What then is our excuse not to make wiser decisions and demand our government to be accountable? Truly, the buck stops here. In the mirror. In every mirror.

Thought provoking
It's not about left or right, because as the movie points out at the outset, both the left and right agree. They like the military-industrial complex. Watch this movie, and marvel at how prescient Eisenhower was in 1961. This movie is high quality, riveting, entertaining, and thought provoking. I will save you the trouble of wondering whether or not to buy it for fear of partisan bias: just buy it and just watch it. This is coming from a guy who voted for Bush in 2004, whose views have shifted, but certainly not in the traditional "left-right" schism. Our aggressive foreign policy and military-industrial complex needs to be seen for what it is. This was not a partisan hack-job that certain other documentary film directors are known for. He allows differing views to be heard, in context, and doesn't shove anything down your throat. If you sincerely desire freedom, as I do, you must have a critical eye toward your own government and the military-industrial complex.