WHY WE FIGHT (2005)

WHY WE FIGHT (2005) is an incisive documentary by Eugene Jarecki that makes the argument that United States military policy (therefore foreign policy) is heavily influenced by the military industrial complex. The military industrial complex is a term coined by President Eisenhower during his presidential farewell address to the US public. It refers to the symbiotic and incestuous relationship between the military/Dept of Defense, the Defense Industry, and the elected officials who make policy. The Defense Industry receives huge contracts from the Department of Defense, therefore spending enormous resources to lobby and influence elected and military officials who write policy (that creates the need for weapons and logistical support) and award the contracts. As the documentary points out, this leads to the behemoth defense multinational corporations setting up factories in virtually every state so that the loss of a large contract will immediately lead to the loss of numerous jobs in a representative or senator's backyard. This complex also means that appointed and elected military and political officials are richly rewarded with a cushy job at a defense company after they have facilitated contracts. This "scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" procedure is referred to as the "revolving door" policy. And it can be seen in virtually every major corporate industry and signifies the greater problem of the large influence multinational corporations have over our government. For more info on the impact of the "revolving door" policy check out this Huffington Post piece by Charlie Cray. Of course the reason the military industrial complex is so influential is because it results in large amounts of money for all the sides involved. Many retired US generals who had influence over contracts find themselves on the boards of the corporations which were awarded the contracts. And it goes much higher than US generals. In 1992 the Department of Defense under SecDef Dick Cheney awarded a Halliburton subsidiary $9 million dollars to see if private corporations could take over the military's logistical support division. The Halliburton subsidiary responded with an affirmative. Since then Halliburton and its subsidiaries have received $2.5 billion dollars in logistical support contracts. And of course in 1995 Dick Cheney became Halliburton's CEO and Chairman. Posts he held until becoming Vice President in 2000. He still holds significant Halliburton stock which has tripled since the start of the War in Iraq.

The documentary also deals with the Iraq War. Something I am going to post about soon. One of the documentary's strengths is that the talking heads are sharp, insightful, credible, and informative. Two are recently retired US military (a General and a Lt. Colonel) whose criticisms illustrate the heart of the problem. There's also Joseph Cirincione and Charles Lewis. Lewis founded the Center for Public Integrity which is dedicated to independent investigative journalism. Currently on their website they have articles on the revolving door in state politics.

I saw the documentary in an Intl Relations class. However I highly recommend it to anyone who is curious about it.