Review of Why We Fight (2005) by Eladio B — 25 May 2014

Overly ambitious. A mish mash of anti war messages that doesn't coherently come together. To over simplify the reasons and motives for war is slightly absurd. The quotes and analysis are hand picked conveniently, with no context which is a critique they use against the Iraq doctrine.

At its centre is a simplistic exposé of the Iraq War which is then expanded out into a determination that the military industrial complex can be blamed for all wars that the US has engaged in. The suggestion that the US entered Chad and Yugoslavia in an attempt to build empire and/or to fulfil military contracts is far fetched.

Every war has its own reasons and some of them may well be nefarious, see Taxi to the Dark Side for a truly revealing insight into some aspects of Iraq/Afghanistan. This documentary really lacks focus and sadly because of that some promising seeds that it plants are never able to grow into a detailed, hard hitting analysis that draw significant conclusions.

The film offers no solutions, its just a left leaning expression of angst about wars and capitalism which is a shame because it briefly highlights genuine concerns but never joins the dots sufficiently to explain how people within the system should be held to account to bring about change.