Why We Fight | 
 enlarge | Director: Eugene Jarecki
Actors: Gore Vidal, John Mccain, Ken Adelman, John Ashcroft, Osama Bin Laden
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.94
Buy New: $6.84
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Rating:  155 reviews
Sales Rank: 5070
Format: Ac-3, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Arabic (Original Language), English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 99
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: COLD13894D
UPC: 043396138940
EAN: 0043396138940
ASIN: B000FBH3W2
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: June 27, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
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Amazon.com
Fans of Oliver Stone's J.F.K. will recognize the opening moments of writer-director Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight, in which outgoing President Dwight Eisenhower warns of the pernicious and growing influence of what he called the "military-industrial complex." But Stone's movie, which uses the same footage, was a work of fiction. While those who disagree with the decidedly leftist point of view in this documentary will probably consider it the product of paranoid liberal fantasy as well, there's enough credible material, much of it supplied by the targets of Jarecki's criticisms, to make Eisenhower look like a prophet and everyone else uneasy about the dark confluence of politics, money, and war that controls the country's fortunes. The message here is that while there may be some who sincerely believe that America's various military engagements (in Iraq, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and elsewhere) since World War II are the product of our God-given duty to spread freedom and halt the influence of evil ideologies around the world, the real reason we fight is that war is good business. This is hardly a bulletin; anyone who is surprised by allegations that politicians pander to defense contractors, or that Vice President Dick Cheney helped secure huge deals for Halliburton, the company he formerly headed, simply hasn't been paying attention (Politicians lie? How shocking!). In fact, the principal drawback to Jarecki's film is simply that there's nothing particularly revelatory or compelling about it. Only when he takes a personal approach does he go beyond the obvious; the story of a retired New York policeman and former Vietnam veteran whose son died in the World Trade Center, who wanted revenge, but who became seriously disillusioned when Bush admitted that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, adds some much needed human interest. Still, Why We Fight, which includes a director's audio commentary track and a few other bonus features, serves as a grim reminder that the world's most powerful nation has strayed far from the principles of our founding fathers, a development that does not bode well for America's future. --Sam Graham
Product Description
This dissects the political economic & historic reasons behind the last 5 decades of american war-making. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/22/2008 Run time: 98 minutes Rating: Pg13
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| Customer Reviews: Read 150 more reviews...
 Why We Fight tells the story November 17, 2008
Lonesome Blue in SC (South Carolina, USA)
A dash of the Michael Moore style of documentary, but much more factual and accurate in historical basis for the thesis: Sometimes America fights because the Industrial Military Complex has more power than elected leaders. Great interviews with McCain back before his quest for the Presidency led him off the real Straight Talk Express. Try to ignore a couple of the more slanted interviews... Gore Vidal is full of it! Otherwise, much food for thought that needs to be considered.
Why we fight October 29, 2008
Deanna Koss Griffith (Florida)
I bought this movie on advice from a dear friend. Aside from the content itself (intriguing and somewhat bothersome from a moral point of view) the DVD came in 'mint' condition and arrived prior to its expected delivery date. I would definitely purchase DVD's from this seller again.
The war is the continuation of... BUSINESS by other means !!! October 24, 2008
Rodrigo G. Acioli (Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brazil)
Von Clausewitz once stated that "War is the continuation of politics by other means" but this excellent documentary shows us that modern wars are being waged with other purposes in mind.
One should watch this DVD immediately after Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and Alex Gibney's "Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room" to get a glimpse of how corporate America have been intertwined with politics in the last few years. If this trend persists, maybe America's future will be the same as the ones so brilliantly described by Paul Kennedy's book "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers"
"You begin to wonder... there's something wrong with the entire system.." October 9, 2008
Zinta Aistars (Portage, MI United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Heartsick. As I should be. As any human being with a shred of humanity left should be. And no one more so than the patriotic American.
"Why We Fight," Oliver Stone's stunning documentary on the real reasons behind the wars in which Americans are and have been involved, is a film every American should view, and more than once. Is war ever the right answer? I will not argue that it is not. There are such times. And there have been wars that I believe we should have fought. Self-defense, yes. In defense of human rights, yes. But, honestly, how many such wars have there been? Few.
Begin with Harry Truman (to date, the only president whose popularity rating was lower than that of George W. Bush at 23 percent) and the order he gave to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. As the documentary points out, it had nothing to do with ending the war or forcing the Japanese to surrender. They had been attempting to surrender for months. Truman gave the order to drop the bomb for the thrill of an explosion, the thrill of power, the thrill of a blood lust. Or perhaps one can just call it ... thrill of imperialism. That deadly explosion was the opening of a door that has never closed again, and it never will. This is now the legacy of Truman, and that day, the day we took off our white hats forever.
Eisenhower predicted in his parting speech from the presidency that we were on the road to building a military-industrial complex. He was right. Most wars since then (and several before then) have been for power, for imperialism, for an arrogance in seeing our way superior to all others, and now, our wars are for oil. The documentary interviews countless military experts, news figures and scholars, runs disturbing video clips of politicians - including film of George Bush and Dick Cheney dishing out propaganda to justify an unjustifiable war - telling blatant lies about the reasons we were attacking Iraq and later chuckling over it. (There's even a clip from a current presidential candidate, and one wonders at the disparity in his message here, even as he scampers away at the bidding of the vice president, and his message in the current campaign. Huh. Not where my vote is going.)
A connection to 9/11? Heartrending interviews with the father of a son killed in one of the two towers in New York on that date progress to show how one American was pulled in by that propaganda, felt the hate he was told to feel, sought the vengeance, requested his son's name be painted on the side of a missile that became a part of "shock and awe," only to find out, much later, the truth of that day. That some ninety percent of the casualties in Iraq that day were boys like his. Children. Housewives. Workers. Families in their homes at the break of what seemed an ordinary dawn. And that it had nothing to do with "freedom." For anyone.
Defending freedom? Defending nothing more than corporate and political interests. At the brink of a time when we are once again expected to vote in a presidential election, one can only hope for documentaries such as this to give Americans pause. As one military figure in this film remarks, it is not that we do not have the information we need. We have access to the Internet. We have access to all kinds of information. If we wish to know, we can know. What then is our excuse not to make wiser decisions and demand our government to be accountable? Truly, the buck stops here. In the mirror. In every mirror.
Thought provoking September 29, 2008
Daniel R. Coats
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's not about left or right, because as the movie points out at the outset, both the left and right agree. They like the military-industrial complex. Watch this movie, and marvel at how prescient Eisenhower was in 1961. This movie is high quality, riveting, entertaining, and thought provoking. I will save you the trouble of wondering whether or not to buy it for fear of partisan bias: just buy it and just watch it. This is coming from a guy who voted for Bush in 2004, whose views have shifted, but certainly not in the traditional "left-right" schism. Our aggressive foreign policy and military-industrial complex needs to be seen for what it is. This was not a partisan hack-job that certain other documentary film directors are known for. He allows differing views to be heard, in context, and doesn't shove anything down your throat. If you sincerely desire freedom, as I do, you must have a critical eye toward your own government and the military-industrial complex.
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