Why We Fight

A recent post, The American Military Fetish by The Daily Kos, and posted on the website of MikeB302000, posed the question if having a large group of career military officers encourages America to go to war. While MikeB and The Daily Kos are on the right tract, as the director Eugene Jarecki of the 2008 documentary film Why We Fight and the author of The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril, the problem is much more engrained into American society.

The large amount of Four Star generals in the seven federal uniformed services is more a reflection of the out of control size of the Pentagon and the military industrial complex that former four star general and two term republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned Americans about in his 1961 farewell address to Congress. As he declared in his 1961 speech, the greatest danger to the American republic is the acquisition of unwarranted influence from within the military industrial complex. A prime example of a source of unwarranted and unelected representatives influencing and advocating the use of military power are think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, and the Rand Corporation.

Although it would be difficult for most people to read the amount of books I have read on this subject, perhaps if they watched the movie Why We Fight, most Americans would getter a better understanding of why the United States has such a large military and why it goes to war so often.

Upon watching this movie they will begin to see how the military industrial complex that former four star general and republican President Dwight D Eisenhower warned the American people about, has now transformed in a corporate political complex of vast proportions.

Please take the time to watch this video clip of the movie, Why We Fight by Eugene Jarecki.