BuzzFlash Reviews

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"War Made Easy [the DVD] 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."

This is a trenchant, compelling broad overview analysis of the repeated cycles of propaganda used by the U.S. government to drive the nation into war through lies and then keep us in conflicts by, in essence, challenging the "manhood" of an ill-conceived war's opponents.

By showing footage of side-by-side presidential justifications for various American wars since WW II -- especially Vietnam and Iraq -- the patterns of deception followed by intimidation become clear.

It also becomes evident that the architects of war in recent years have intentionally deceived the American public in order to launch conflicts. Then they claim that to pull out would undercut our GIs. In short, it becomes heretical not "to support our troops" who the people commanding them aren't supporting by putting them in unnecessary -- and in the case of Iraq unwinnable -- wars.

"War Made Easy" is a compelling documentary that connects some very important dots about techniques used by the executive branch to keep America at war.

One of the most revealing moments in the documentary is the use of the pejorative term "cut and run" by the Bush Adminstration to bully any opponents of the Iraq fiasco into silence. A series of GOP bullies are shown in quick succession brandishing the phrase with a brash disdain. In short, if you want to bring the GIs home alive, you are a coward who wants to appease the "enemy," even if the executive branch cannot really define who the enemy is.

"Cut and Run" is a cudgel used to silence reason, concern for those who serve in our military, and individuals who believe that our national security is being compromised by the war in Iraq.

Bush and Cheney -- who wouldn't put their butts on the line in Vietnam and have no extended family members serving in Iraq or the military -- use the mainstream media and Republican shock troops to portray Iraq withdrawal advocates as the "shaking with fear cowards" who run from the fox hole, leaving his (or her) fellow soldiers to die.

It's a symbolic image with such strong resonance that it mutes the Dems in Congress, even though it is the guys in the executive branch who are the real cowards, hiding behind high-octane slogans to justify utterly failed policies.

Norman Solomon offers a keen analysis of how war has been made easy by well-oiled propaganda techniques that have only been enhanced by the likes of an entire GOP message point network, FOX News.

Narrated by Sean Penn, Normon Solomon is the on-air expert who weaves together a cogent understanding of why it is so difficult to end a war once it has begun.

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