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Eisenhower is voice of reason in 'Why We Fight'New documentary explores nexus of military and business.


When the average American is asked why we fight wars, the answer is usually "freedom."

Well, that's a nice, non-controversial answer. Who doesn't like freedom? But are there other reasons why we have gone to war? The documentary "Why We Fight," now showing at the Green Hill The centerpiece of the film is President Dwight Eisenhower's farewell address on Jan. 17, 1961, when he warned against what he called the "military-industrial complex."
"We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions,"

Eisenhower said, in words that remain relevant today. "We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.
"Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the federal government. ...
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

You can read or watch Eisenhower's entire speech at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/.
Eugene Jarecki, the writer-director of "Why We Fight," told Salon.com that "at no point before or since in our history has an American president been as truthful with the American public about any subject, let alone a subject as significant as war. ... One of the things I hope to do with the film is really make people think twice about Eisenhower, and take a new look at him, particularly as a messenger-prophet figure who rises from the grave to put where we are today in a clearer context."

Since Eisenhower's warning, of course, the military has only gotten bigger, as have the corporations that support the military. Things that used to be done by soldiers, such as food service and laundry, are now being contracted out to private firms. Do names like Halliburton and Kellogg Brown Root ring any bells?

As former CIA agent Chalmers Johnson says in the film, "When war becomes this profitable, you're going to have more war." (Iraq running something like $180 million a day)
"Why We Fight" presents scenes we don't see on American television, such as a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel saying she wouldn't allow her sons to join the military today. This 20-year veteran says the military no longer fights for freedom, but for the interests of certain policy-makers.

However, the film does not present a one-sided look at its subject. The comments from Johnson and author Gore Vidal (who blasts the "United States of Amnesia") are balanced by interviews with Sen. John McCain and neo-conservatives Richard Perle and William Kristol.

It's amazing today to see Eisenhower — a mainstream Republican and the most honored American war hero of the 20th century — warning against the influence of the military and the defense industry. These days, he would be attacked as a left-wing traitor. He would get the John Kerry treatment.

In fact, Eisenhower's vast experience with the military made him wary of it. He knew how smooth-talking generals could bamboozle politicians who didn't understand this particular bureaucracy. Ike once said: "God help any man who sits behind this desk who doesn't know the military like I do."

It's interesting how Eisenhower — long regarded as a bland, boring, do-nothing president — now seems like a lonely voice of wisdom. He got us out of Korea. He refused to send combat troops to Vietnam, despite the urgings of politicians as divergent as Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. He wouldn't let the Bay of Pigs fiasco happen on his watch. He loathed Joe McCarthy and worked behind the scenes to ensure his downfall.

Eisenhower, seen as a tired old man by Jack Kennedy's "best and brightest" — the Ivy League brains who led us into the quagmire of Vietnam — now looks like one of America's best presidents. Too bad he wasn't more respected when he died in 1969.
On the day I saw "Why We Fight," I spied a rather long-winded bumper sticker that said: "It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need, and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber."

A bake sale for the Air Force is not likely. Thanks to pork-driven politics, our Congress is dumping hardware on the military that they don't want and didn't ask for. (As "Why We Fight" points out, parts of the B-2 bomber are built in all 50 states.)

It's all about keeping the military-industrial complex going. Look at the letters this newspaper has run, saying that Clarksville would be "nothing" without Fort Campbell. If that's true, what are we going to do when the federal teat goes dry? Do we plan to suck on it forever? But as this documentary's poster asserts, "It is nowhere written that the American empire goes on forever."

"Why We Fight" argues that America has been on a continuous wartime economy since the 1940s. It took guts for Eisenhower to point that out in his time. Imagine the response such an outburst of honesty would prompt today.

You know what would happen. The president would be fired by Dick Cheney.

This is a column of personal opinion, George Poague, Clarksville Tn.