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BBC4Why We Fight

WHY WE FIGHT, the new film by Eugene Jarecki which won the Grand Jury Prize at the
2005 Sundance Film Festival, is an unflinching look at the anatomy of the American
war machine, weaving unforgettable personal stories with commentary by a “who’s
who” of military and beltway insiders. Featuring John McCain, William Kristol,
Chalmers Johnson, Gore Vidal, Richard Perle and others, WHY WE FIGHT launches a
bipartisan inquiry into the workings of the military industrial complex and the
rise of the American Empire.

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?’”


This movie is part of the collection: Iraq War: Non-English Language Videos

Producer: BBC4
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Language: arabic
Keywords: Iraq War; USA; Weapons; Destruction; Middleeast; iraq_war; BBC4

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Reviewer: vidmonko - - September 2, 2008
Subject: War is a Racket -- and a Huge Business
This is a very important documentary. Speaking merely on the latest debacle, there has been a
Litany of US lies on the Iraq invasion (a hoary western tradition) which now continues re- Iran. Some quotes:
"Propaganda brought us to power; propaganda has since enabled us to remain in power and propaganda will give us the means of conquering the world.... The task of the propagandist is not the scientific education of everyone, but the indication to the masses of the facts, events, necessities etc. whose significance and morality enter into the field of interest." Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf.
In order to justify removal of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein a thousand lies were uttered by top US leadership. These "False Pretenses" in a study by two nonprofit journalism organizations were posted on January 22, 2008 on the web site of the Center for Public Integrity. It's "an exhaustive examination of the record" of President Bush and his seven top officials who "waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat" Iraq posed to galvanize public opinion and go to war "under decidedly false pretenses."
Gobal Research website recounted on 4 February: "At least 532 separate speeches, briefings, interviews, testimonies and more provide the evidence. They show a concerted web of lies became the administration's case for war even though it's clear Iraq had no WMDs or any ties to Al-Queda. Numerous bipartisan investigations drew the same conclusion, including those by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 2004 and 2006, the multinational Iraq Survey Group's "Duelfer Report," and even the dubious 9/11 Commission."
"The study cites 232 false Bush statements alone about WMDs and 28 others about links to Al-Qaeda. Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and others put out the same lies that increased after August 2002 and spiked much higher in the weeks preceding invasion. In all, the study documented 935 false statements, the dominant [corporate] media spread them*, their deception is now revealed, and yet the administration avoided any responsibility for its actions and the media is unapologetic. In addition, there are no congressional investigations, and the war is still mis-portrayed as a liberating one when its clear intent was to erase a nation, divide and rule it, turn it into a free market paradise, use it as a launching platform to dominate the region, and control its oil.'
*BBC gave in its over all coverage of Iraq war a mere 2% time to opposition's anti-war voices and was the worst of the leading broadcasters, including US networks, according to Media Tenor; a Bonn-based non-partisan media research organization. ABC of USA with 7% was the second-worst case of denying access to anti-war voices. In a 4 July, 2003 comment in " the Guardian" titled "Biased Broadcasting Corporation", Justin Lewis, Professor of Journalism at Cardiff University confirmed the above results. US led Western lies and suppression of truth have since continued.
Israel or rather international Zionist powers rule the USA and much of Europe. Those who don't toe their line pay a heavy price.

For more info on why we fight, esp. re- the present war in Iraq, the likely invasion of Iran, etc., see israelshamir.net, counterpunch.org, culturewars.com and links.

Reviewer: brsean - - August 15, 2008
Subject: Is the USA part of the real 'Axis of Evil' ?
This documentary should be seen by everyone! It objectively and dispassionately exposes the Military-Industrial-Congressional axis of greed and evil for what it is, as well as the Zionist/"Neo-Conservative", US/Israeli pathological relationship (with Israel and powerful international Jews 'on top' of a blackmailed and submissive US government. Burn some discs and share them -- you will help the whole world and be part of the solution to overcoming this huge, ugly monster.
"Litany of US lies on Iraq invasion-A hoary western tradition"
"This war [in Iraq] is the most important liberal, revolutionary U.S. democracy-building project since the Marshall Plan. ... it is one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad." -- Thomas Friedman , much-acclaimed New York Times foreign-affairs analyst, November 2003.
"Propaganda brought us to power; propaganda has since enabled us to remain in power and propaganda will give us the means of conquering the world.... The task of the propagandist is not the scientific education of everyone, but the indication to the masses of the facts, events, necessities etc. whose significance and morality enter into the field of interest." Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf.
In order to justify removal of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein a thousand lies were uttered by top US leadership .These "False Pretenses" in a study by two nonprofit journalism organizations were posted on January 22, 2008 on the web site of the Center for Public Integrity. It's "an exhaustive examination of the record" of President Bush and his seven top officials who "waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat" Iraq posed to galvanize public opinion and go to war "under decidedly false pretenses."
Gobal Research website recounted on 4 February that
"At least 532 separate speeches, briefings, interviews, testimonies and more provide the evidence. They show a concerted web of lies became the administration's case for war even though it's clear Iraq had no WMDs or any ties to Al-Queda. Numerous bipartisan investigations drew the same conclusion, including those by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 2004 and 2006, the multinational Iraq Survey Group's "Duelfer Report," and even the dubious 9/11 Commission."
"The study cites 232 false Bush statements alone about WMDs and 28 others about links to Al-Qaeda. Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and others put out the same lies that increased after August 2002 and spiked much higher in the weeks preceding invasion. In all, the study documented 935 false statements, the dominant [corporate] media spread them*, their deception is now revealed, and yet the administration avoided any responsibility for its actions and the media is unapologetic. In addition, there are no congressional investigations, and the war is still mis-portrayed as a liberating one when its clear intent was to erase a nation, divide and rule it, turn it into a free market paradise, use it as a launching platform to dominate the region, and control its oil.'
*BBC gave in its over all coverage of Iraq war a mere 2% time to opposition's anti-war voices and was the worst of the leading broadcasters, including US networks, according to Media Tenor; a Bonn-based non-partisan media research organization. ABC of USA with 7% was the second-worst case of denying access to anti-war voices. In a 4 July, 2003 comment in " the Guardian" titled "Biased Broadcasting Corporation", Justin Lewis, Professor of Journalism at Cardiff University confirmed the above results. US led Western lies and suppression of truth have since continued.

See www.israelshamir.net and www.culturewars.com for more info and other links.

Reviewer: Zeugitai - - December 3, 2007
Subject: Outstanding
An outstanding documentary film that provides a real education in modern American history!

Reviewer: du2vye - - July 12, 2007
Subject: Must See
This is a well done, important video for everyone to see. It adds a context that has been missed with day to day news by reviewing events from WWII, Eisenhower, Reagan, up to current events.

Rather than preaching or blaming, this video avoids political divides by looking at and asking question "Why we fight?" This film doesn't offer any simple conclusions. That's what I found so appealing as well. Others may find that difficult to deal with.

Yet as a nation, involved in war, we have an obligation and moral duty that we each develop our own answer to that question. That is what this film is about.

Reviewer: ThinkingAmerican - - April 23, 2007
Subject: Excellent, but I don't think this is Public Domain
This is a fantastic video. I've watched it and it is brilliant not just for it's commentary on the current situation in Iraq and the shakey circumstances under which it was undertaken, but it also does a great job of summing up the last 100 or so years of the history of the area we now call Iraq.

Even though this is video says it's not in English, I'm thinking that I'm pretty sure it's not in the public domain. Does anyone else know?

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CAUTION: This item has not been reviewed for content. This item may contain images of graphic violence, or appear to explicitly encourage violent acts against certain groups or individuals. It may also include inappropriate language.