Treat yourself to a BBC documentary about the military-industrial complex and its origins this weekend. Directed by Eugene Jarecki in the modern documentary style, so it is particularly fast moving.



  1. Rosco says:

    Regardless of your feelings about the U.S. and it’s war in Iraq. Watching this movie has to make you react. Very moving and frightening. How will we ever take our country back before it’s too late? Or is it already too late?
    Our children may never know the pride in country that we once knew. Are there no heroes left to lead us back to our days of greatness or was it all just an illusion of my youth? God bless America, she really needs it..

  2. Mark T. says:

    I would like to download the video from video.google.com. Do you have the google video link? I can’t seem to find the original.

    Thanks!

  3. JD says:

    Any chance of a link to the full screen google video feed? I can’t find this on video.google.com!

  4. Stever says:

    that is a real eye opener…what a sad state we are in!

  5. doug says:

    4. my grandpa was slated for the Pacific theater in 1945 and he stayed in Utah, thanks to the bomb.

    the facts are totally at odds with the this whole business about Truman nuking the Japanese, who were willing to surrender, in order to show off the bomb, as you note. it is a far-Left Cold War trope – Stalin, et al, wanted to be our friend, but we evil Yankee Imperialists wouldn’t let him! Who couldn’t like that nice Stalin? Mean people, that’s who!

    If that is how this “documentary” begins, I wonder if the rest is worth watching.

  6. Mike Abundo says:

    Wow. Even Washington and Eisenhower didn’t want this to happen. And they certainly weren’t wimpy peaceniks.

  7. RTaylor says:

    To many WWI was Wilson’s war. For others WWII was Roosevelt’s war. Both were accused of lining the pockets of defense contractors at the cost of innocent blood. It’s no secret that many profit during war. Even before mass production of arms, financiers of wars were repaid with booty at a profit. Accept the human animal for what it is. High expectations will only make you miserable.

  8. Pmitchell says:

    I am about 20 min into this pile of excrement, and just as can be expected from the BBC leftists, all western culture is bad and America is the worst of the lot.

    I am amazed at these peoples’ hate for a country and culture that actually allows them the freedom to stand up and spout this, and even more amazed at their love for the countries and culture that would be the first to silence or imprision them

    their logic is flawed … I pitty the fools

  9. Bret Curry says:

    I’ve met Eugene and his brother, who directed Capturing the Friedmans. There both American just so you know Pmitchell.

  10. Gary Marks says:

    Just so you know, folks, that warm hand near your genitals isn’t a come-on. That’s what it feels like when your pocket is being picked. The military-industrial complex is the deepest pit of corruption we’ve ever seen. Oddly, no one here seems to be arguing that Eisenhower was poorly informed or disingenuous in making the dire warning he gave us. On the contrary, few people have been in a better position than a former general and President to see these dangers.

  11. Gary Marks says:

    Oh please, Paul, you’ll have to do better than New Jersey. Their entire annual state budget (general fund) is only about half of the total annual revenue for just Lockheed Martin alone. The defense (maybe I should say offense) budget is huge.

  12. joshua says:

    I like BBC news, it’s usually pretty objective, but like Fox, it has it’s shows that are not news but commentaries and the BBC is very bias to the left. But this is to be expected from a network that is publicaly funded by the goverment, which is Labour at the moment.

    Paul is correct when he says the Japanese offered to surrender but on the terms they wanted, which were just to liberal for the allies to accept.

    While Esienhower was correct in warning of the military/industrial complex, it has to be said that when any country goes to war, the people who make arms are going to profit. That is just how it works, sure it would be nice if they could just manufacture the arms for free, but even in war time, the civilians still need to earn a living and feed their families, at least until the goverment at war decided to give all civilians free food, housing, energy and health care for the wars duration.

    WW l was a war we could have stayed out of, the nations survival and well being weren’t in danger from the Kaiser. But WW ll was different, our nation was actually in danger of being subjugated by the fasists. Our way of life was threatened.

    Those who thought and think that we can ignore those kind of threats are delusional. Those that are anti-war, no matter the reason would be the first to go if we were brought down by the fundementalist Muslims or in the case of WW ll, the fascists. I completely respect the right of anyone to challenge goverment, especially about basic freedoms and war, I am one of those people, but I also recogise that we can’t always just sit back and avoid defending our country.

  13. moss says:

    I think it’s hilarious that conservatives worth their salt consider the BBC presentations to be “Left” — especially if you haven’t watched their news programs throughout the Iraq war.

    Blair is Left? Labour, yes — but, “New Labour” which makes him as centrist as Clinton. Which is why an enormous number of British citizens turned their back on Blair in the elections, last week. Every other of the major parties gained in local elections while Blair’s crew lost.

    You didn’t notice that a year ago that most of the management and all of the presenters managing the US market for the BBC were removed?

    The worse thing you could legitimately say about BBC coverage of the Iraq War, the United States and our government — is that it reflects exactly what most of the world thinks and says. So, that justifies a characterization as “Left”? Sounds more like journalism the old-fashioned way.

  14. blank says:

    Ah, so the Japanese wanted to surrender, on their own terms eh? Ok…so instead of possibly showing them the destruction of the bomb, or even negotiating with them or ANYTHING…just drop the bomb. Hell, drop two of them. Which we did. And it saved (in theory at least because we’ll never know for sure) a million lives at the cost of 10’s of thousands of lives.

    But what non of you flag waving war lovers have done yet is answer the main question of the movie…why do we fight? Why the hell are we in Iraq? Where is this war going? Would you send your son over there to fight? If you support it, how are you supporting it? Why aren’t you over there in Iraq working for one of the contractors? Why aren’t you over there helping the people out if you support is so much? They need people on the ground there now! Put your money where you mouth is and get your asses over there and prove how much you believe in this war.

    Or is your idea of supporting the war is writing to blogs like this one then kicking back to watch a little TV? Yeah, I thought so….

    كالعاده الاميركيين تمتلء المنافقي

  15. doug says:

    18. “But what non of you flag waving war lovers have done yet is answer the main question of the movie…why do we fight? Why the hell are we in Iraq?”

    Actually, I don’t support the war, more because it is stupid and counterproductive rather than anything else. Conspiracy theories about US foreign policy being dictated by arms manufacturers are another thing entirely.

    I am gradually coming to the conclusion that belief in conspiracy is a sign of political sickness, whether it is right-wingers during the Cold War seeing a commie under every shrub, anti-semites thinking the Elders of Zion are behind everything, or lefties thinking that greedy corporations are calling the tune.

    I operate with a version of Occam’s Razor – most stupid things (like the current war) happen because of human stupidity. If the arms merchants were behind it, wouldn’t we have gotten into a bigger war with, say, North Korea, Iran or Russia? I mean, that is where the real money could be made. Most folks thought this one would be over PDQ (hence the “Mission Accomplished” speech), without the opportunity to stick it to Uncle Sucker for years on end.

  16. Richard Crisp says:

    Re 18

    I am in the military, are you? If you ever actually get the chance to go to iraq, as most of my friends have, you would realize that the media concentrates soley on stories of death because it generates ratings. Controversy generates ratings. A new school built in Kirkuk does not. Face we are all victims of one conspiracy or another. Take them all with a grain of salt and wait for your god (or what ever you believe put you contrived ass here) or history to sort them all out.

  17. Jason Boo says:

    Who knew Dvorak was such a moonbat?

  18. NumLock says:

    Actually, I’m the moonbat. Please, give credit where it is deserved.

  19. NumLock says:

    Dvorak 2.0, now with more moonbat?


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