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Review of the Documentary
‘Why We Fight’
by Gaetana Caldwell-Smith / March 2006 issue of Socialist
Action newspaper
In
the documentary film “Why We Fight,” writer-director Eugene Jarecki uses
rare,
incriminating
film footage, declassified files, and interviews with ordinary people as
well as government and corporate luminaries.
Jarecki
has created a sweeping, controversial, factual account of America’s rise as
a military power whose government leaders and advisors, in general, are
bent on world domination. One interviewee admits, “If there’s something we
don’t like about another country, we invade them.”
The
film points out that immediately after World War II, the U.S. devised
detailed plans to dominate the world. In one clip, we are shown the
published, bound reports imprinted with the name if each country to be targeted,
lying on a desk.
Included
also is an eye-opening account of the U.S. drive for global imperialism,
starting with Guatemala in 1954 and on up to Iraq in 2003. This is
graphically illustrated by a map of the world, with the countries that we
messed with—overtly or covertly—highlighted in red.
The
film’s main thesis is that the U.S. economy is based on what President
Dwight D. Eisenhower called the “military-industrial complex” in his 1961
farewell speech when he left office. Eisenhower warned of “grave implications”
should this become its foundation.
Evidence
in the film reveals that dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
was largely aimed at scaring the Soviet Union. Since then, regardless of its
ability to obliterate perceived enemies with the bomb, the U.S. continues
to increase its military spending and awards huge military contracts to
favored private corporations with strong government ties—e.g. Dick Cheney.
Jarecki
employs a technique used by Michael Moore in his film, “Fahrenheit 9-11.”
Rather than stringing a bunch of facts and interviews together, he engages
us by introducing a human perspective.
He
interviews some ordinary people and follows them throughout the film—a
retired New York cop whose son died in the WTC disaster and a baby-faced
guy just out of high-school whose only hope is the military. Another interview is with two proud,
emotionally disconnected Air Force pilots, before and after dropping the
first bombs on Baghdad.
Neocon
William Kristol, interviewed by the filmmaker, says that well before 9-11
Cheney asked him and Wolfowitz to devise a plan for the U.S. to become the number-one
superpower in the world. They came up with the Project for the New American
Century (published in
2000,
available on-line, and scary!). Kristol says, “If we don’t police the
world, who will?” Which begs the question: Why does the world need
policing, and who gave the U.S. the right?
Made
evident in the film is the fact that the U.S. plans to maintain a presence
in Iraq. It is building 14 permanent bases there.
Retired
Lt. Col. Karen Kwaitkawski, a former Pentagon official who quit when she no
longer wanted to be a part of the lies and deceit, was asked, “Why are we allowing
our country to continue on this path?” She replied, “Not enough people are
stepping up, saying, ‘we’re not doing this anymore.’” Of course, millions around
the world have demonstrated in protest of U.S. war policies in Iraq and
elsewhere.
There’s
a clip of former President Reagan giving a speech in which he states that
our military might is a "force for peace." Following Reagan, the
Bush administration has utilized George Orwell’s “newspeak” and
“doublethink” quite effectively. One interviewee says, “It’s not so difficult
to get a country to go to war. Since Vietnam, the government shapes what it
wants its people to know about the war.”
The
government now spends up to $1.2 billion on military propaganda in the
United States. Most people don’t even realize they are being brainwashed.
This is evident by the answers the filmmaker gets when he asks ordinary
people on the street: "Why do we fight?"
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