why we fight
For some reason I seem to be really into depressing "the world is so screwed" documentaries lately. Today, I watched "Why We Fight" (torrent), a piece on the American Military-Industrial Complex written and directed by Eugene Jarecki. I heard about it because Jon Stewart interviewed Mr. Jarecki on this episode of The Daily Show.
I have to say, there probably isn't a lot in the flick that SFB readers don't already know: Corporate weaponsmakers like Lockheed-Martin and Halliburton are deeply interwoven with both the Bush administration and Congress. In fact, most US foreign policy is decided by corporate-sponsored "think tanks" with 0 voter accountability and a stated agenda of coming up with reasons and rationalizations for the next war. And of course there has to be a next war, because that's their trillion-dollar business. These annoying questions of "why", "where", and "how to get the public to agree with us"... well, that's why they have think tanks!
In the spirit of preaching to the choir, among my other favorite documentaries on what's wrong with the world's only superpower are The End of Suburbia and The Corporation, as well as a very compelling three part miniseries called "The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear". The miniseries is a cut above the other two because I find it uses less emotional string-pulling and more essay-style presentation of facts to make its point.
I have to say, there probably isn't a lot in the flick that SFB readers don't already know: Corporate weaponsmakers like Lockheed-Martin and Halliburton are deeply interwoven with both the Bush administration and Congress. In fact, most US foreign policy is decided by corporate-sponsored "think tanks" with 0 voter accountability and a stated agenda of coming up with reasons and rationalizations for the next war. And of course there has to be a next war, because that's their trillion-dollar business. These annoying questions of "why", "where", and "how to get the public to agree with us"... well, that's why they have think tanks!
In the spirit of preaching to the choir, among my other favorite documentaries on what's wrong with the world's only superpower are The End of Suburbia and The Corporation, as well as a very compelling three part miniseries called "The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear". The miniseries is a cut above the other two because I find it uses less emotional string-pulling and more essay-style presentation of facts to make its point.
