'Why' examines rise of military-industrial complex

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'Why' examines rise of military-industrial complex

By BOB HOOVER
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
10-MAR-06

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence ... by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

President Dwight Eisenhower delivered his famous _ and unheeded warning _ days before he left office and too late for him to do anything about it. Ike knew that complex firsthand because he presided over its extraordinary rise in the Cold War, but he condemned it anyway.

"Why We Fight," a documentary by the director of "The Trials of Henry Kissinger," is a low-key but penetrating history of how the wedding of the Pentagon and defense industry, now joined by Congress and neo-conservative think tanks, has caused Ike's prediction to come true with the "disastrous rise of misplaced power" that is the Iraqi occupation.

"There's no exit strategy (in Iraq) because we never intended to leave," claims Chalmers Johnson, a former CIA agent who effectively gives the historic framework for President Bush's military adventure. He claims that "14 military bases" are under construction in Iraq.

Also effective are Karen Kwiatkowski, a retired U.S. Army officer and vocal war critic; U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., whose interview is cut short when Vice President Dick Cheney calls; Wilton Sekzer, a retired New York cop who lost a son in the 9/11 attack; a Baghdad morgue doctor sadly reading off the civilian victims of American "smart bombs" that missed their targets; and a perpetually grinning William Kristol, neo-con poster boy.

In case you're thinking this film is just another Michael Moore imitator, think again. Eugene Jarecki is a careful polemicist who makes his case slowly from a diverse collection of interviews and history rather than broad stunts for easy laughs.

We now know the reasons for invading Iraq were invented or distorted. "Why We Fight" (the title comes from a series of World War II propaganda films) aims to explain how the very forces Eisenhower warned us of in 1961 have come to dominate America's foreign and military policies, which are now one and the same, Jarecki argues.

"We elected a government-contractor vice president," says Charles Lewis, who runs an investigative journalism think tank, in reinforcing Jarecki's thesis.

Much of "Why We Fight" is old news, but it's still information that matters.

(Bob Hoover can be reached at bhoover(at)post-gazette.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)