Thursday, February 02, 2006
Why We Fight
Thanks to Steve Clemons, last night I had the opportunity to attend a pre-release premier of Eugene Jarecki's brilliant film Why We Fight.
The film works off of Eisenhower's eye opening farewell speech , where he warns us that we must "guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex". If you haven't heard/read the speech before, you should. It's hard to believe those words come from a former 5-Star General. Eisenhower seems to have wanted to make sure that Americans do not rely on the military to supply all services (Education, health care, etc.).
Anyway, the names below, are featured in the film. All, except for Vidal, Lewis, and Sekzer, are/were practitioners of the "Military Insustrial Complex".
Wilton Sekzer -- Officer, NYPD
Fuji & Tooms -- Stealth Fighter Pilots, U.S. Air Force
Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski -- Officer, Pentagon Middle East Desk
William Solomon -- New Recruit, U.S. Army
Anh Duong -- Explosives Expert, Indianhead Naval Center
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff, Department of State (attended the screening)
Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
Chalmers Johnson, CIA 1967-73; President, Japan Policy Research
Institute
Joseph Cirincione, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Gore Vidal, author
Charles Lewis, Center for Public Integrity
Richard Perle, Pentagon Advisor; American Enterprise Institute
William Kristol, Editor, The Weekly Standard
Col. Richard Treadway, Commander, Stealth Fighter Squadron
James Roche, Secretary of the Air Force
John S.D. Eisenhower, Son of Dwight Eisenhower
Susan Eisenhower, Granddaughter of Dwight Eisenhower; Eisenhower
Institute
Gwynne Dyer, Military Historian
Donna Ellington, President, Raytheon Missile Systems
Col. Wally Saeger, U.S. Air Force Munitions Directorate,
Franklin "Chuck" Spinney, Pentagon Systems Analyst (ret)
Dan Rather, CBS News
Personally, I think Mr. Sekzer (son killed on 9/11), Lt. Col. Kwiatkowski (former "architect" of the Iraq War, who now seems to bitterly oppose Rumsfeld's Pentagon), and Chalmers Johnson (former CIA agent) were the interviews that stood out. The film istelf, is very powerful as well as depressing-what can we do to change things? Go watch it, and decide.
|
The film works off of Eisenhower's eye opening farewell speech , where he warns us that we must "guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex". If you haven't heard/read the speech before, you should. It's hard to believe those words come from a former 5-Star General. Eisenhower seems to have wanted to make sure that Americans do not rely on the military to supply all services (Education, health care, etc.).
Anyway, the names below, are featured in the film. All, except for Vidal, Lewis, and Sekzer, are/were practitioners of the "Military Insustrial Complex".
Wilton Sekzer -- Officer, NYPD
Fuji & Tooms -- Stealth Fighter Pilots, U.S. Air Force
Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski -- Officer, Pentagon Middle East Desk
William Solomon -- New Recruit, U.S. Army
Anh Duong -- Explosives Expert, Indianhead Naval Center
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff, Department of State (attended the screening)
Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
Chalmers Johnson, CIA 1967-73; President, Japan Policy Research
Institute
Joseph Cirincione, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Gore Vidal, author
Charles Lewis, Center for Public Integrity
Richard Perle, Pentagon Advisor; American Enterprise Institute
William Kristol, Editor, The Weekly Standard
Col. Richard Treadway, Commander, Stealth Fighter Squadron
James Roche, Secretary of the Air Force
John S.D. Eisenhower, Son of Dwight Eisenhower
Susan Eisenhower, Granddaughter of Dwight Eisenhower; Eisenhower
Institute
Gwynne Dyer, Military Historian
Donna Ellington, President, Raytheon Missile Systems
Col. Wally Saeger, U.S. Air Force Munitions Directorate,
Franklin "Chuck" Spinney, Pentagon Systems Analyst (ret)
Dan Rather, CBS News
Personally, I think Mr. Sekzer (son killed on 9/11), Lt. Col. Kwiatkowski (former "architect" of the Iraq War, who now seems to bitterly oppose Rumsfeld's Pentagon), and Chalmers Johnson (former CIA agent) were the interviews that stood out. The film istelf, is very powerful as well as depressing-what can we do to change things? Go watch it, and decide.
