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War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.
War Made Easy gives special attention to parallels between the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq. Guided by media critic Norman Solomon’s meticulous research and tough-minded analysis, the film presents disturbing examples of propaganda and media complicity from the present alongside rare footage of political leaders and leading journalists from the past, including Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, dissident Senator Wayne Morse, and news correspondents Walter Cronkite and Morley Safer.
A newly released film by Director Kimberly Peirce, who created the film in response to her brother's recent experiences in Afghanistan (her previous work includes "Boys Don't Cry"). The movie deals with the "stop-loss" policy used by the Bush Administration to extend the tours of duty of the active military. This has had the effect of soldiers serving multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as extending their service time beyond their enlistment obligation. The film is a dramatization starring Ryan Phillippe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Why We Fight describes the rise and maintenance of the United States military-industrial complex and its fifty-year involvement with the wars led by the United States to date, especially its 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The documentary asserts that in every decade since World War II, the American public was told a lie, so that the Government (incumbent Administration) could take them to war and fuel the military-industrial economy maintaining American political dominance in the world.
Why We Fight documents the consequences of US foreign policy with the stories of a Vietnam War veteran whose son was killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, and who then asked the military to write the name of his dead son on any bomb to be dropped in Iraq; and that of a twenty-three-year-old New Yorker who enlists in the United States Army because he is poor and in debt, his decision impelled by his mother's death; and a military explosives scientist who arrived to the U.S. as a refugee girl from Vietnam in 1975.
A newly released film by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue. The film focuses on the human toll that has resulted from the Iraq War. Not only are the children of the elite, economic and political, able to avoid the war, the class that is fighting has had to endure recurring tours of duty in the war zone. This has led to a disproportionate burden borne by those who have served us in Iraq.
There are many new outlets that have reviewed this highly acclaimed piece. Bill Moyer's Journal reviews the topic and provides access to segments of the movie.
A very powerful drama about an ex-MP who discovers his son missing on his return from Iraq. As he investigates his death, which had been quietly closed by the military, he uncovers an Army he no longer recognizes. The movie gives insight into the pervasive drug abuse in Iraq, as soldiers there try to cope with their daily misery. The film ends with a powerful raising of the US flag by Tommy Lee Jones, which harkens back to an earlier scene in the movie.
Academy Award winner for best documentary in 2007. Taxi details how the use of torture became promulgated throughout all levels of the military, with "plausible deniability" created for those at the top. In addition to showing the effect of torture on both those who receive and dispense it, the movie delves into its lack of efficacy in obtaining useful information. In fact, the major claim made by Colin Powell in his 5 February 2003 UN Security Council testimony, was erroneous evidence gained through water boarding.
The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq’s descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality and anarchy, NO END IN SIGHT is a jaw-dropping, insider’s tale of wholesale incompetence, recklessness and venality. Based on over 200 hours of footage, the film provides a candid retelling of the events following the fall of Baghdad in 2003 by high ranking officials such as former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Ambassador Barbara Bodine (in charge of Baghdad during the Spring of 2003), Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, and General Jay Garner (in charge of the occupation of Iraq through May 2003) as well as Iraqi civilians, American soldiers, and prominent analysts. NO END IN SIGHT examines the manner in which the principal errors of U.S. policy – the use of insufficient troop levels, allowing the looting of Baghdad, the purging of professionals from the Iraqi government, and the disbanding of the Iraqi military – largely created the insurgency and chaos that engulf Iraq today. How did a group of men with little or no military experience, knowledge of the Arab world or personal experience in Iraq come to make such flagrantly debilitating decisions? NO END IN SIGHT dissects the people, issues and facts behind the Bush Administration’s decisions and their consequences on the ground to provide a powerful look into how arrogance and ignorance turned a military victory into a seemingly endless and deepening nightmare of a war.
"Iraq for Sale" looks at who has profitted from the War in Iraq. It includes a detailed look at private contractors and their exploitative practices which have placed their employees in harms way so they could make more money. They also detail the perverse incentives the private contractors have had to spend money, and not use our tax dollars wisely.
The Palestine Hotel was to be a safespace in Baghdad for members of the media who were capturing the essence of war in Iraq through various mediums to inform the people. The Pentagon was told their location coordinates, and the journalists felt secure in the promise that the firing would not be targeted towards their site. But on April 8th, a U.S. tank aimed and fired at the floor where Jose Couso was set up with his camera. The U.S. government continues to tell conflicted stories as to what happened that day.
Hotel Palestine: Killing the Witness exposes the truth behind an attack on a media-filled hotel in Iraq. The film was produced by Jose Couso's network, Telecinco, and broadcast on Spanish TV. It includes interviews with numerous journalists who were inside the Palestine Hotel, the AP reporter embedded with US forces at the time of the attack as well as the US tank commander who pulled the trigger.
Produced by: Telecinco
Run time: 50 minutes
Most of us who came of age in the 1960s and 70s believed that the Anti-War movement during Vietnam began on college campuses and in the streets. Sir, No Sir! dispels this notion, showing that the anti-war movement began in the barracks. The movie shows the importance of the active military taking an active stance against an immoral war, and why it is equally important that we support them in their efforts (See Appeal for Redress, Active Duty Soldiers Against the War).
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