Why We Fight
On January 17, 1961, one of America’s greatest military minds, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, gave his farewell address to the nation. In that speech he offered America a sober warning:
“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.
"We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
This idea is the basis for the documentary Why We Fight. The movie asks this question and explores the answers to why we seem to use our military to fight all over the globe so often. And, while the movie provides its viewer with the knowledge to come up with some of those answers on their own, the most powerful aspect is the realization that the vast majority of Americans not only do not know the answer to this question, but that there is rarely any national debate where this most basic of questions is discussed.
Instead, what is painfully obvious is that Americans just accept the fact that we fight because we have to without any real knowledge of anything deeper. Contrary to what Eisenhower was asking us to become as a nation, we are not now, nor have we been recently, “an alert and knowledgeable citizenry”. In fact, we have taken everything for granted. And, as he predicted, the result has been more than precarious for us. There has not been the proper balance between the influence of the military-industrial complex and our desires for peace, and therefore security and liberty have not prospered together.
Why We Fight is more balanced than Fahrenheit 9/11 and provides the viewer with many more facts; and while it doesn’t have the budget or production value of that movie, and it might not be as entertaining, it is undoubtedly a much better and more powerful documentary. This movie should be required viewing for every American who has an opinion on the current war(s) or on why we fight any wars. And fight them we do; make no mistake about it.
Since WWII when America became a world super power we have fought all over the world. Every president in the last 60 years has sent our troops into battle. Both Democrats and Republicans have fallen victim to the weight of the military-industrial complex. Ike himself was at times powerless to stop its momentum, and this is no doubt why he warned us – in fact pleaded with us – to be very wary of this growing force which he knew would ultimately be dangerous to our democracy and the American way of life. And, if we take a step back and take a look at our country at the beginning of the 21st century there can be no doubt that we have not heeded Ike’s warning.
In the year 2006 there is an “American way of life” of course. It is the way of life that we as Americans live and know and accept; but it is only the American way of life because we are Americans and we are living it. It is not the American way of life that our ancestors experienced prior to 1945. It is not the American way of life that was created by our founding fathers. Today, instead, it is one in which a majority of Americans have become completely content in their ignorance as to how and why our government operates as it does. The sad thing is that most Americans probably never knew that Eisenhower coined the phrase military-industrial complex, and that he warned us of its dangers. And, if as you’re reading this, you don’t know what it is then I’m not going to explain the whole thing to you. Look it up and/or see the movie.
The movie also delves into the concept of blowback, which is a term used to describe the unintended consequences of America’s covert actions around the world. Because these actions are covert, the public is generally unaware of them and therefore cannot understand the results of these actions; and when we face the consequences from them the public is completely surprised and feels they are done without cause. However, if we were an alert and knowledgeable citizenry we would not be so surprised. Even though much of what our govt. is involved in is covert the information is still out there, maybe not always while it’s happening, but eventually it comes out. People step forward and give their stories, but they’re ignored for the most part.
It’s intellectual laziness that is our problem. We don’t connect the dots because it takes too much effort to do so. For example: most people know to some extent that in the 1980’s the U.S. used to support both Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden. That’s a matter of public record. It should be enough right there to stop people in their tracks and make them ask how and why two former allies of ours became our top two enemies. But, somehow most people don’t explore the answer to this question. Instead we are distracted and spoiled with our wealth and power and the modern luxuries of life such that we consciously turn a blind eye to all the complicated stuff.
We marvel at the power and might of our military. Sometimes we watch in awe as fighter jets perform stunts for the public. Do we even wonder why the military would spend so much time and money to put on a free air show? Amongst the “ooohs” and “aaahs” of the crowds does anyone realize that they're being manipulated to subconsciously support the hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars that goes into spending on this type of military machinery? And where does that money come from? We all know it’s our tax dollars, but do we realize that it's private corporations that receive this money to build our military? And, when the industry is worth that much money, then it will undoubtedly wield an unbelievable amount of power within Washington to keep the money flowing. The industry can’t survive if there are not new weapons to build. And, if these weapons keep being built well then they must be used eventually.
Eisenhower knew this. He was one of our most respected leaders, a man of unquestioned integrity, a five-star general, The Supreme Allied Commander during WWII, and President of The United States; and he told us to be cautious of this. You'd think we would’ve listened.
“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.
"We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
This idea is the basis for the documentary Why We Fight. The movie asks this question and explores the answers to why we seem to use our military to fight all over the globe so often. And, while the movie provides its viewer with the knowledge to come up with some of those answers on their own, the most powerful aspect is the realization that the vast majority of Americans not only do not know the answer to this question, but that there is rarely any national debate where this most basic of questions is discussed.
Instead, what is painfully obvious is that Americans just accept the fact that we fight because we have to without any real knowledge of anything deeper. Contrary to what Eisenhower was asking us to become as a nation, we are not now, nor have we been recently, “an alert and knowledgeable citizenry”. In fact, we have taken everything for granted. And, as he predicted, the result has been more than precarious for us. There has not been the proper balance between the influence of the military-industrial complex and our desires for peace, and therefore security and liberty have not prospered together.
Why We Fight is more balanced than Fahrenheit 9/11 and provides the viewer with many more facts; and while it doesn’t have the budget or production value of that movie, and it might not be as entertaining, it is undoubtedly a much better and more powerful documentary. This movie should be required viewing for every American who has an opinion on the current war(s) or on why we fight any wars. And fight them we do; make no mistake about it.
Since WWII when America became a world super power we have fought all over the world. Every president in the last 60 years has sent our troops into battle. Both Democrats and Republicans have fallen victim to the weight of the military-industrial complex. Ike himself was at times powerless to stop its momentum, and this is no doubt why he warned us – in fact pleaded with us – to be very wary of this growing force which he knew would ultimately be dangerous to our democracy and the American way of life. And, if we take a step back and take a look at our country at the beginning of the 21st century there can be no doubt that we have not heeded Ike’s warning.
In the year 2006 there is an “American way of life” of course. It is the way of life that we as Americans live and know and accept; but it is only the American way of life because we are Americans and we are living it. It is not the American way of life that our ancestors experienced prior to 1945. It is not the American way of life that was created by our founding fathers. Today, instead, it is one in which a majority of Americans have become completely content in their ignorance as to how and why our government operates as it does. The sad thing is that most Americans probably never knew that Eisenhower coined the phrase military-industrial complex, and that he warned us of its dangers. And, if as you’re reading this, you don’t know what it is then I’m not going to explain the whole thing to you. Look it up and/or see the movie.
The movie also delves into the concept of blowback, which is a term used to describe the unintended consequences of America’s covert actions around the world. Because these actions are covert, the public is generally unaware of them and therefore cannot understand the results of these actions; and when we face the consequences from them the public is completely surprised and feels they are done without cause. However, if we were an alert and knowledgeable citizenry we would not be so surprised. Even though much of what our govt. is involved in is covert the information is still out there, maybe not always while it’s happening, but eventually it comes out. People step forward and give their stories, but they’re ignored for the most part.
It’s intellectual laziness that is our problem. We don’t connect the dots because it takes too much effort to do so. For example: most people know to some extent that in the 1980’s the U.S. used to support both Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden. That’s a matter of public record. It should be enough right there to stop people in their tracks and make them ask how and why two former allies of ours became our top two enemies. But, somehow most people don’t explore the answer to this question. Instead we are distracted and spoiled with our wealth and power and the modern luxuries of life such that we consciously turn a blind eye to all the complicated stuff.
We marvel at the power and might of our military. Sometimes we watch in awe as fighter jets perform stunts for the public. Do we even wonder why the military would spend so much time and money to put on a free air show? Amongst the “ooohs” and “aaahs” of the crowds does anyone realize that they're being manipulated to subconsciously support the hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars that goes into spending on this type of military machinery? And where does that money come from? We all know it’s our tax dollars, but do we realize that it's private corporations that receive this money to build our military? And, when the industry is worth that much money, then it will undoubtedly wield an unbelievable amount of power within Washington to keep the money flowing. The industry can’t survive if there are not new weapons to build. And, if these weapons keep being built well then they must be used eventually.
Eisenhower knew this. He was one of our most respected leaders, a man of unquestioned integrity, a five-star general, The Supreme Allied Commander during WWII, and President of The United States; and he told us to be cautious of this. You'd think we would’ve listened.
posted by The Animal | 11:22 AM
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