Peace Pundit

I recently was told about a documentary film, released near the end of the Bush administration, that tries to understand the reasons why the US went to war in Iraq. Hint: Oil isn’t the whole story; there is a great deal of historical context.

The film interviews current and former military officers, defense analysts, politicians, and ordinary citizens about why we went to war against Iraq. It also include archival news footage from all around the world.

I can’t decide what is the best part of the film.

• It might be the historical footage of President Ike Eisenhower warning at the end of his Presidency about the perils of having government be guided by companies who profit from war.
• Or it might be the ongoing interview with the Vietnam-war vet who lost his son in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and, wanting to “kick the perpetrators’ butts”, strongly supported the Iraq war, but eventually became disillusioned with Bush when he realized that Iraq was not behind 9/11.
• Or it might be intercutting of interviews with the pilots of Stealth bombers proudly talking about their precision-guided bombs with statistics on how accurate those bombs really were (answer: not) and much “collateral damage” (i.e., civilian casualties) they caused (answer: much).
• Or it might be the reflections of former Pentagon analyst Karen K about her conversion from military strategist to anti-war activist.
• Or, finally, it might be the interviews with the neo-cons who believed then and still believe that global domination is and should be the goal.

The video is an hour and a half long, but it’s divided into short episodes so you can watch it as you have time.

Highly recommended:
Watch Film

Related Previous Peace Pundit Posts:

• More Evidence That the Iraq War Was Unnecessary
• Bacevich: Costs of US Consumerism & Imperialism
• Cost of Iraq War: Civilian Lives, Lost Goodwill, and High Debt
• New Greenwald Documentary: Rethink Afghanistan
• McClellan: Bush Mislead Public about Iraq War

This entry was posted on September 23, 2009 at 11:00 pm and is filed under A War Based on Lies, Civilian Casualties, Cost of War, Lessons from History, Mission Accomplished?, Reviews, War on Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.