WHY WE FIGHT
All’s fair game in love and military profiteering?
PopcornReel.com Film Review:
“Why We Fight”
By Omar P.L. Moore/March 24, 2006
Eugene Jarecki’s stirring documentary begins
with a wistful, nostalgic look at U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower’s outgoing
presidential address of January 17, 1961.
In the address, special attention is paid to the issue of the “military industrial complex”, which Eisenhower, himself a former military general, warns will be a major problem for the American “citizenry” to watch out for.
Forty-five years after that Eisenhower farewell address, Mr. Jarecki looks at how the American military’s strength has grown since, via such corporations as Boeing, Raytheon, Northrup Grumman, MacDonnell Douglas, etc., who make weaponry for the nation’s military. “Why We Fight” examines how the strength of the American military is exemplified in the current conflict in Iraq, and the emotional effect of that strength on those carrying out the military missions, those victimized by the missions, and those in bereavement who plead for vengeance after losing loved ones on September 11, 2001.
Essentially the documentary spends half its time examining Eisenhower and his reluctance to engage in war, playing significant excerpts from his final speech as president. Soon, the documentary takes a sobering turn, focusing on September 11th’s horrific denouement, and the endless carnage in Iraq, where people affected by both events speak out after experiencing vacancies in their hearts. A retired New York City police officer speaks of tragedy on September 11 of losing his son, and his desire to have the name of his son placed on a bomb that was targeted for Iraq. The despair of knowing that Iraq had nothing to do with one of the great horrors on American soil sets the retired officer, who also fought in Vietnam, off into an anger and heartbreak that is eclipsed only by the loss of his own son at the World Trade Center. The retrospective contemplations of the officer are the best part of the documentary.
Numerous politicians, think tank figures, and journalists, including retired anchor Dan Rather of CBS News weigh in on the current Bush administration and the excessive spending on defense over anything else in the government budget. Richard Perle takes the position that “what’s the big fuss about preemption?” while Senator John McCain wonders out aloud about American military dominance. Retired general Karen Kwiatkowski speaks of refusing to allow her sons to enlist in the military. Gen. Kwiatkowski in particular, leaves the viewer with plenty of somber food for thought.
In the final analysis “Why We Fight” asks its audience to think critically and avoids asserting its own makers’ politics in the process. This documentary is more a companion piece to Errol Morris’ Oscar-winning 2003 documentary “The Fog of War”, than it is to Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11”. Mr. Jarecki’s film is clearly timely, but it is also necessary, as it gives those who are frustrated by the American press reports on Iraq the perspective they feel has been desperately missing in action.
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