Product Description
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Grand Jury Prize winner at the 2005 Sundance Film
Festival, WHY WE FIGHT is an unflinching look at the anatomy of
American war-making. Granted unparalleled Pentagon access, the
film launches a nonpartisan inquiry into the forces -- political,
economic, and ideological -- that drive America to fight.
Inspired by President Dwight Eisenhower's 1961 Farewell Address
in which he warned Americans about the dangers of the
"-industrial complex," filmmaker Jarecki ("The Trials of
Henry Kissinger") weaves unforgettable stories of everyday
Americans touched by war with commentary by a "who's who" of
and Washington insiders. Featuring John McCain, Gore
Vidal, Richard Perle and others, WHY WE FIGHT explores a
half-century of U.S. foreign policy from World War II to the Iraq
War, revealing how, as Eisenhower warned, political and corporate
interests have become alarmingly entangled in the business of
war. On a deeper level, what emerges is a portrait of a nation in
transition --
.com
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Fans of Oliver Stone's J.F.K. will recognize the opening
moments of writer-director Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight, in
which outgoing President Dwight Eisenhower warns of the
pernicious and growing influence of what he called the
"-industrial complex." But Stone's movie, which uses the
same footage, was a work of fiction. While those who disagree
with the decidedly leftist point of view in this documentary will
probably consider it the product of paranoid liberal fantasy as
well, there's enough credible material, much of it supplied by
the targets of Jarecki's criticisms, to make Eisenhower look like
a prophet and everyone else uneasy about the dark confluence of
politics, money, and war that controls the country's fortunes.
The message here is that while there may be some who sincerely
believe that America's various engagements (in Iraq,
Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and elsewhere) since World War II are
the product of our God-given duty to spread freedom and halt the
influence of evil ideologies around the world, the real reason we
fight is that war is good business. This is hardly a bulletin;
anyone who is surprised by allegations that politicians pander to
defense contractors, or that Vice President Dick Cheney helped
secure huge deals for Halliburton, the company he formerly
headed, simply hasn't been paying attention (Politicians lie? How
shocking!). In fact, the principal drawback to Jarecki's film is
simply that there's nothing particularly revelatory or compelling
about it. Only when he takes a personal approach does he go
beyond the obvious; the story of a retired New York man and
former Vietnam veteran whose son died in the World Trade Center,
who wanted revenge, but who became seriously disillusioned when
Bush admitted that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11,
adds some much needed human interest. Still, Why We Fight, which
includes a director's audio commentary track and a few other
bonus features, serves as a grim reminder that the world's most
powerful nation has strayed far from the principles of our
founding hers, a development that does not bode well for
America's future. --Sam Graham