Why We Fight
Last night I finally watched an excellent BBC documentary by Eugene Jarecki, called "Why We Fight." It was a very depressing and realistic overview of American's quest for global military supremacy.
The history began with Eisenhower's chilling warning about the "military-industrial complex" (a warning that was obviously ignored). The story briefly took us through Vietnam and 9/11, and concluded with our current devastating predicament. The approach is clever in that it doesn't place blame on any one particular person (a very easy out for many) but really analyzes the individual motivations and historical context in an admirable attempt to answer the complicated question of why we fight.
The documentary was extremely well edited, and while Jarecki's bias was quite obvious, he was able to put on a credible façade of objectivity. I feel that it is important for a film maker to be able to present his message without coming across as a radical partisan. (Michael Moore, for example, is not able to contain his anger and frustration, and that's why he can only preach to the converted. Those who would learn most from his films, never see them).
My lefty pacifist attitudes are well known to most of you, so you'll understand why I was so sad and angry after watching this film. It's important and intelligent, and I highly recommend that you watch it.
6 Comments:
George Carlin has a clip called "Rockets and Penises in the Persian Gulf" which explains this whole thing a lot better...
text version available here: (warning: it's Carlin, so it's obscene and probably very offensive to some people)
http://newsmine.org/archive/cabal-elite/w-administration/dissent/celebs/george-carlin.txt
I have seen this program, and I agree, it's very good. Much better than Michael Moore for exactly the reason that you mention.
I too have seen it, and I agree that this is an excellent documentary. The only criticism that it gets from me is the lack of closure in the story of that soldier. They should've showed what happened to him - I am sure nothing good. But they just left it open.
Hey IRina, don't jump all over me for this one. I agree with you - war is bad. But I feel like this documentary is less powerful because it comes out of Europe. Europeans have no business criticizing US imperialism and militarism considering their own history. Seems a bit arrogant for my taste.
i've never seen this. i'll try to get a hold of it and check it out. thanks for the rec.
i don't think it's any less powerful having come out of europe. i wish soem mainstream US channel would show it, or i would even settle for pbs. it's a great film.
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