Why We Fight? Harnessing Public Opinion and Tax $$$

There are two documentaries that should be watched together, one a longer film the second a short.

"Why We Fight" is an excellent over view of the US and its need to begin wars, continue wars and ultimately harness public opinion and taxpayers' resources to prepare for and finance future war.



Rumblings abound that Iran is the next target and that the regime has weapons of mass destruction etc. or are building nuclear devices.

With the US economy limping along and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq either continuing indefinitely into the future or winding down next year, the US Military-Industrial-Think Tank-Complex needs another battle "theater".

Currently we have 14 permanent bases in Iraq, after invading on March 17th 2003. Most military brass don't think a war in Iran will be successful, yet think-tanks and military contractors are not giving up and ratchet up the battle hyper pole daily.

The second documentary is "Poster Girl", a film that follows an ex-cheerleader into battle and after her return from Iraq with PTSD (see earlier post on this blog).

http://hackingthroughdistractions.blogspot.com/2011/09/ambien-anecdotes-from-battlefield.html

It is a disturbing window into the soul of a female combat veteran, her struggles wit the VA, with her inner demons and society in general.



The main character Sgt. Murray even made it to the cover of "ARMY" magazine and was the poster girl for female combat soldiers.

Of course she regrets every single action she engaged in during her tour in Iraq. These are not the documentaries the top brass in the military want young people to see. Instead war is injected with MASSIVE DOSES OF HEROISM and patriotism.


A book that is rarely found in college libraries today is "War is a Racket" by Smedley Butler, written in 1935 many years after Butler had retired.





Little has changed today, 76 years later, except TECHNOLOGY AND PROPAGANDA METHODS. Instead of using boots on the ground the US military uses DRONES and BUNKER BUSTING bombs, "precision guided missiles" and cyber warfare in countries that have had "democracy" hoisted upon them from the barrel of a M-16 rifle. Thousands of soldiers are killed and hundreds of thousands of civilians are slaughtered all in the name of war.

Profits mount up and the usual profiteers see their stock prices rise into the stratosphere.