[Mb-hair] "Why We Fight" --new film now playing

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the 
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or 
unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for 
the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
-- President Eisenhower, in his Farewell Address
Dear Mha Atma S:
Thirty five years ago this week, President Dwight D. Eisenhower 
made his famous Farewell Adress to the nation, in which he 
popularized the phrase "military-industrial complex." The 
following 35 years have shown us that Ike didn't know the half 
of it.
Including war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan and mandatory 
defense related spending, America's defense budget is over 
$750 billion. Our national priorities have been shaped in part by 
this spending. Yet many Americans remain ignorant of the 
costs of our defense establishment.
That's why director Eugene Jarecki wrote and filmed 'Why We 
Fight.' The documentary won the prestigious Grand Jury Prize 
at the Sundance Film Festival, and has been called "absorbing" 
by the New York Times. Entertainment Weekly's Owen 
Glieberman called it "nimble" and "brilliant," and said, "I defy 
anyone not to be staggered by it." 
The film is a look at our national military culture. It weaves 
unforgettable personal stories with commentary by a "who’s 
who" of military and beltway insiders. Featuring John McCain, 
Gore Vidal, William Kristol, Chalmers Johnson, Richard Perle 
and others, 'Why We Fight' launches a bipartisan inquiry into 
the rise of the American Empire. 
But 'Why We Fight' is not really focused on the Washington 
insiders we've come to expect. In the film, we meet Wilton 
Sekzer, a former NYPD Sergeant and Vietnam Veteran who 
lost his son on 9/11. We meet Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, who 
was at her desk in the Pentagon's Middle East Desk on that 
day. From stealth bomber pilots to the CEO of the company 
making the stealth bombers, from designers of the new 
generation of weapons, to those firing those weapons, to Iraqis 
who face the devastation those weapons cause, we see the 
effects of our $750 billion military budget. 
Perhaps most impressively, it manages to examine these 
issues without falling into the trap of polemics. Jarecki quietly, 
calmly and beautifully lays out the costs and the reasoning for 
war. Not just our current war, but all of the wars of the past half 
century. No US President in that period has managed to avoid 
sending troops to a shooting war zone. Jarecki simply asks, 
"Why?" 
'Why We Fight' is opening this week in New York and Los 
Angeles, and around the country starting February 10. And 
because we think 20/20 Vision supporters are bound to be 
interested in it, we've gotten the release schedule and posted it 
here: 
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=73799939
&url_num=2&url=http://www.2020vision.org/event/WhyWeFight
Sched.htm
I believe that this film is going to be one that is talked about for 
years to come. I was lucky enough to see a screening, and I 
personally consider it one of the finest films I've seen in the last 
year. I can't recommend it strongly enough. I urge you to make 
plans now to see this during its limited release, and to tell your 
friends and neighbors about it. I think you'll find yourself 
discussing it long after you've left the theater.
Ron Zucker, 20/20 Vision

During World War II, the U.S. government commissioned a series of 
propaganda films (some directed by Frank Capra) entitled 'Why We 
Fight.' Now, filmmaker Eugene Jarecki turns that premise on its head, 
using the same title to take an incisive, unflinching look at the 
convention of warfare. Using as his starting point Dwight D. 
Eisenhower's declaration that a responsible government "must guard 
against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or 
unsought, by the military-industrial complex," Jarecki charges that in 
the current political climate, the government's ambitions -- stated or 
otherwise -- in going to war are often starkly different from the best 
interests of its citizens. Why do we lack the sense of wartime purpose 
that previous generations proudly upheld? How large a role do political 
and corporate agendas play in influencing a U.S. call to arms? These 
questions and more are addressed in a powerful film that transcends 
polemical scapegoating, forcing us to confront a new brand of 
imperialism that cannot easily be justified or ignored.

http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/


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"A war of aggression is the supreme international crime." -- Robert Jackson,
 former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice and Nuremberg prosecutor

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