Causus Bellicose

Why We Fight–the new documentary that borrows its title from the legendary Frank Capra propaganda films of World War II–aptly opens with footage of Dwight D. Eisenhower. But it is not the determined general, readying the Allied forces for the invasion of Normandy, that we see, but rather an elder statesman delivering his 1961 presidential farewell address, warning that a grand military-industrial complex is developing. U.S. policy, he cautions, is in danger of becoming beholden to the armed forces and spendthrift defense contractors, instead of serving in the public's best interest. Why We Fight chronicles exactly how prescient Eisenhower was.

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Eugene Jarecki, whose only other documentary is the 2002 film The Trials of Henry Kissinger, strives to explain why the United States seems to continuously look for opportunities to flex its military muscle. For timeliness, he uses the Iraq War, and the war on terror more generally, as prisms through which to show what kind of mammoth the military-industrial complex has become. It's an ugly side of American enterprise that to investigate properly and engage in a balanced way, especially on film, necessitates a deft, reasoned filmmaker, which Jarecki proves himself to be. He treats all of his subjects–from an army recruit to the father of a 9/11 victim–with studied deference.

The film also showcases a variety of viewpoints from celebrity talking heads (Weekly Standard editor William Kristol on one side, author Gore Vidal on the other), but it's the lesser-known policy people like former CIA consultant Chalmers Johnson who give the arguments passion and context. Johnson's conclusion about “why we fight”? Money. Going to war and maintaining a multifaceted, state-of-the-art military makes companies rich. In turn, these companies provide good jobs–shrewdly enough–in every state of the country, making it quite difficult for politicians to tell their constituents that they were responsible for the defense budget cuts that closed the local munitions plant. “The defense budget is three-quarters of a trillion dollars,” Johnson opines. “Profits went up last year well over 25 percent. When war becomes that profitable, you're going to see more of it.”

Unlike Fahrenheit 9/11 and other politically charged documentaries released in recent years from both the right and left), Why We Fight provides perspective, not invective. If anything, Jarecki is too evenhanded. Why We Fight has the cadence of a rhetorical question that never posits a definitive answer. This mood is echoed in interviews with “everyday Americans” who struggle to explain in a plainspoken, unguarded way why their nation is perpetually ready to go to war. They list rationales such as “freedom,” “duty,” and “honor,” but never offer a response that penetrates beneath this well-worn lexicon.

Maybe it's because we, as a society, still don't know why we fight. Eisenhower tried to tell us nearly 50 years ago, but for the most part, history has ignored his warning.