IPFS News Link • Military Industrial Complex
Why We Fight (A Film By Eugene Jarecki)
• youtube (h/t Lew Rockwell blog)Inspired by Dwight Eisenhower's legendary farewell speech (in which he coined the phrase "military industrial complex"), filmmaker Jarecki (THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER) surveys the scorched landscape of a half-century's military adventures, asking how -- and telling why -- a nation of, by, and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a system whose survival depends on a state of constant war.
The film moves beyond the headlines of various American military operations to the deeper questions of why -- why does America fight? What are the forces -- political, economic, ideological -- that drive us to fight against an ever-changing enemy?
"Frank Capra made a series of films during World War II called WHY WE FIGHT that explored America's reasons for entering the war," Jarecki notes. "Today, with our troops engaged in Iraq and elsewhere for reasons far less clear, I think it's crucial to ask the questions: 'Why are we doing what we are doing? What is it doing to others? And what is it doing to us?'"..."
"...Main Characters
Wilton Sekzer -- Officer, NYPD
Fuji & Tooms -- Stealth Fighter Pilots, U.S. Air Force
Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski -- Officer, Pentagon Middle East Desk
William Solomon -- New Recruit, U.S. Army
Anh Duong -- Explosives Expert, Indianhead Naval Center Others
(in order of appearance)
Sen. John McCain (R/AZ)
Chalmers Johnson, CIA 1967-1973
Joseph Cirincione, Carnegie Endowment for Peace
Gore Vidal, Author
Charles Lewis,Center for Public Integrity
Richard Perle, Pentagon Advisor
William Kristol, Editor, The Weekly Standard
Col. Richard Treadway, Commander Stealth Fighter Squadron
James Roche, Secretary of the Air Force
John S.D. Eisenhower, Son of Dwight Eisenhower
Susan Eisenhower, Granddaughter of Dwight Eisenhower
Gwynne Dyer, Military Historian
Donna Ellington, President, Raytheon Missile Systems
Col. Wally Saeger, U.S. Air Force Munitions Directorate
Franklin Spinney, Pentagon Systems Analyst (ret.)
Dan Rather, CBS News..."