Why We Fight (2005 film)

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Why We Fight

Theatrical Poster
Directed by Eugene Jarecki
Produced by Susannah Shipman
Written by Eugene Jarecki
Starring Joseph Cirincione
Richard Perle
Chalmers Johnson
John McCain
Music by Robert Miller
Cinematography Etienne Sauret
May Ying Welsh
Editing by Nancy Kennedy
Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics
Release date(s) January 20, 2005
Running time 98 minutes
Country France
United Kingdom
Canada
United States
Language English
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Why We Fight (2005) is a documentary film directed by Eugene Jarecki about the United States's relationship with war. Its title is an allusion to the World War II-era newsreels of the same name, which were commissioned by the United States to justify their decision to go to war against the Axis Powers

Why We Fight was first screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2005, exactly 44 years after Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address. It won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary. It received a limited theatrical release on January 20, 2005, and was released on DVD to the home video market on June 27, 2005 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, with a MPAA rating of PG-13.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Why We Fight describes the rise and maintenance of the United States military-industrial complex and its involvement in the wars led by the United States during the last fifty years, and in particular in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The film alleges that in every decade since World War II, the American public has been told a lie to bring it into war to fuel the military-economic machine, which in turn maintains American dominance in the world. It includes interviews with John McCain, Chalmers Johnson, Richard Perle, William Kristol, Gore Vidal and Joseph Cirincione. The film also incorporates the stories of a Vietnam War veteran whose son died in the September 11, 2001 attacks and then had his son's name written on a bomb dropped on Iraq; a 23-year old New York man who enlists in the United States Army citing his financial troubles after his only family member died; and a former Vietnamese refugee who now develops explosives for the American military.

[edit] Contributors / representatives

[edit] Politicians

Senator John McCain
Elected to the United States Senate in 1986, former U.S. Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war.

[edit] Civilians

Joseph Cirincione, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Author, lecturer and frequent commentator on proliferation and security issues in the media, Joseph Cirincione is a senior associate and director of the Non-Proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C.

Anh Duong
Fleeing Saigon in 1975, Anh Duong says she felt forever indebted to her American rescuers. So when the Pentagon ordered development of a new weapon for use in Afghanistan, she employed her explosives expertise to redress the balance; the result was the 'thermobaric' bunker buster.

Gwynne Dyer, Military Historian
Gwynne Dyer is a military historian, author, and journalist who has worked for the Canadian, British, and American military. Over the years he has published many books, articles, papers, and radio series about international affairs.

Susan Eisenhower, Granddaughter of President Eisenhower
Journalist, author and news expert Susan Eisenhower is a senior fellow and director of programs at the Eisenhower Institute. She is currently serving a third term appointed to the National Academy of Sciences' standing Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC).

John Eisenhower, Son of President Eisenhower, Military Historian
A military historian, John S.D. Eisenhower was a member of White House staff during his father's administration. He is also a retired Brigadier General (AUS) and served as Ambassador to Belgium between 1969 and 1971.

Chalmers Johnson, Central Intelligence Agency 1967-73, Political Scientist
With a career in foreign policy spanning 50 years, Chalmers Johnson currently holds the position of President of the Japan Policy Research Institute. An academic at the University of California, he is the author of countless articles and many books.

William Kristol, Editor, The Weekly Standard
A figure of influence in U.S. politics since the 1970s, William Kristol started the Weekly Standard in 1995 and co-founded the Project for the New American Century in 1997.

Karen Kwiatkowski
A retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel whose assignments included duties as a Pentagon desk officer and in a variety of roles for the National Security Agency.

Charles Lewis, Centre for Public Integrity
Charles Lewis is the founder, and was until recently executive director, of the Centre for Public Integrity - a non-profit, non-partisan watchdog organisation established in 1989, conducting investigative reporting and research on public policy issues.

Wilton Sekzer, Retired officer, New York City Police Department / Vietnam veteran
Wilton's son died on 9/11. After the attacks, he says the Bush Administration made him believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible. Wilton emailed all branches of the armed forces to ask if his son's name could be written on a bomb to be dropped on Iraq. He is later unsure if his actions were regrettable when he heard Bush saying he did not know where people got the idea that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks.

William Solomon
Following the death of his mother and in the face of mounting debts, 23-year-old New Yorker William Solomon signed a six-year Army contract. On January 10, 2005, he was shipped to Iraq where he was scheduled to serve for 18 months as a helicopter mechanic. He returned to the United States in 2006, and is currently stationed with the 1-52nd Aviation Battalion at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

Frank "Chuck" Spinney, Retired Military Analyst
Son of an Air Force Colonel, he graduated from Lehigh University as a Mechanical engineer in 1967 and worked in the Air force in Ohio before joining the Pentagon's Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation in 1977. Spinney became a harsh critic of the Pentagon, later to become known as the "Conscience of the Pentagon", attacking the spiraling increase in spending in a document, published in 1982, called "Defense facts of life", which later became known as the "Spinney Report" which at the time earned him the cover of Time magazine.

Gore Vidal, Author of Imperial America
Author of numerous novels, plays, screenplays, short stories and essays, Gore Vidal has written several books on American foreign policy.

[edit] Military representatives

'Fuji' and 'Tooms'
U.S. pilots 'Fuji' and 'Tooms' allegedly dropped the first bombs over Baghdad when the Iraq War broke in 2003.They claim they were unaware that it was allegedly flawed intelligence that had been guiding their deadly payload, until some months later when they hear of a missed strike and significant collateral damage.

Colonel Richard Treadway, Commander USAF Stealth Fighter Squadron
Vice-Commander of the 49th Fighter Wing of the U.S. Air Force, Colonel Richard Treadway has served since graduating from the United States Air Force Academy in 1979. He flew 21 combat sorties over Iraq in 1991.

Richard Perle, Chairman, Pentagon Defense Policy Board (2001-2003)
A leading authority on defence and national security, Richard Perle has served the U.S. Government for three decades and is viewed as one of the architects of the Bush administration's foreign policy. He is a regular contributor to various news publications.

Colonel Walter W Saeger Jr, Director, U.S. Air Force Munitions Directorate
Colonel Walter W 'Wall' Saeger is director of the Air-to-Surface Munitions Directorate, Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The directorate manages a stockpile of equipment worth over $17.5 billion.

James G. Roche, Secretary of the Air Force
As the 20th Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, Dr. James G Roche is responsible for its functioning and efficiency, the formulation of its policies and programs, and the timely implementation of decisions and instructions of the U.S. Presidents and the Secretary of Defense.

[edit] Audio commentators on the DVD

Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson, Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell
Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (US Army, retired) left government along with Colin Powell in January 2005. From 1984 to 1987 Colonel Wilkerson served as Executive Assistant to US Navy Admiral Stewart A. Ring, Director for Strategy and Policy (J5) USCINCPAC. In the mid 1990s Colonel Wilkerson was Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia. He has written widely on military and national security affairs and has been published in several professional journals.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Transcript of interview on the PBS show NOW with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson about pre-war intelligence. Public Affairs Television (February 3, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-08-08.

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
DiG!		 Sundance Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
2005		 Succeeded by
God Grew Tired of Us
v • d • e
American films of the 2000s
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