The American Military Industrial Media Complex 2009

I have noticed that actually, same here in Britain, alls we get on the news is 'heroes' 'heroes' and some more 'heroes'
Absolutely nothing about what the 'heroes' are ACTUALLY doing.

We as a country will suffer for years too come when we finally bring our troops home many of them will not be able to adapt to civilian society and fall back on what they know. How to kill! It happened after Vietnam, mark my words we are starting to feel the effects of this madness already. Get used to it, war changes a soldier.

What are they fucking hiding. At least during the Vietnam we saw how wrong the US were. They must be doing something worst than Vietnam.

Great and very moving video..I heard about the Haliburton incident and something like that should not happen even ONCE. If the military cannot protect their own and that is how they are subjugated, it is not hard to imagine the atrocities they visit on other peoples.

We definitely need to break up our military/decrease its power in government is some way. The risk is that if our defense shrinks visibly, one of the many enemies we've made may finally strike back.

I don't think the American Media have broadcast a body being take of a transport plane to the US since Vietnam. Seeing the bodies is a sure fire way to loose support for a pointless war.

This is awful, I know that the content is true, I know we need to face the truth and we need to work for peace and justice for everyone, but this looks and sounds like the other side. Through a glass darkly, the assault on reason, the use of fear to drive action is wrong. It is wrong, it is wrong. This kind of "propaganda" and yes propaganda can be true, is not productive. It is counterproductive.

Please,Please Please, let us find our way back to productive discussions, actions to save lives. the scary music just fans the emotions of the already converted,and is dangerous. It is the same thing as saying freedom fries and liberty cabbage. It may be true but it isn't right.

KBR has to be the most corrupt company that has ever been contracted by the U.S. but I can remember when I was in the military, we had a form called waste and fraud abuse. When I filed several of them I was called onto the carpet and told that if they wanted these forms filed then they would tell me to file them. The tech rep from the company in question was standing there and the riot act was done all over me. This situation is not new, Corruption exist at all levels of the military industrial complex because it is a closed system for very wealthy people.

This piece is overly simplistic and with music from a Michael Bay movie. I do not agree with the war, but anybody who thinks a military is not needed for nation building is a fool. Security is the foundation for civilization, the main reason we as individuals organized into societies in the first place. These soldiers that committed terrible acts should be punished, such behavior is highly frowned upon (and illegal) within the US military, but when you place these people in such a stressful environment and grant them the power of life or death over others that are considered a threat...certain humans will do terrible things.

War is a brutal thing, this piece makes that clear, but it implies that modern warfare is getting more brutal as time goes by when the opposite is certainly true. Recent estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths for the entire war is in excess of 100,000, a terrible figure that would have been exceeded by just a few heavy bomber raids during WWII.

A more balanced and thoughtful film/speech with some realistic alternatives for what to do next...would have been appreciated.

Yes, the music does a lot to discredit this information....

Are we truly nation building, or are we breaking down the nations that are "in our way" to benefit our corporate interests??

Are we nation building? That's where it gets complicated... the US and UN do have some success in nation building Japan, S. Korea, and Germany being the best examples; but I feel that, overall, the US dropped the ball in the first year of the war. After we had toppled Saddam, if we had left the Iraqi Baathist bureaucracy intact and not disbanded the Iraqi Army (sending 300,000 armed young men home with no job or future prospects is a recipe for disaster), we would've had a shot at winning the Iraqis over and thus also had a chance at some real 'nation building,' Its hard to rebuild electrical grids while under mortar attack.

Invasion plans that included keeping the Iraqi government, minus Saddam, in place were central to the CIA and DoD contingency plans for an Iraqi occupation. The Bush administration ignored and overruled these plans which sowed the seeds for the insurgency, which in turn made nation building almost impossible.

So yes, I think that there is much corruption and corporate greed that are by-products of this war...but I do feel that our intentions were to nation build; but as soon as that became more difficult than our leaders planned, they just buried their heads in the sand (pun intended) and waited a few years...until Petraeus...now its probably too late.

In a 'nut-shell' our leaders began to believe the myth of American infallibility...but through their hubris, and our ignorance, thousands are dead and a country is smashed (not to mention US prestige). If smarter people had been in charge, it might have worked and the people of Iraq may have become our staunch allies in a very volatile region who's oil production, like it or not, must be maintained for the global economy to function.

*I am a veteran and student at the Jackson School of International Studies.

Really Powerful Stuff.
No Justice, No Peace.

We all know who controls our media AND our government.
Is it any wonder why the media is not reporting on what the government is doing?

I guess governments aren't the only ones that are Tyrannical. Even if this angle is true, what is one to do?

Your quite right about this illegal and senseless war, but it has been going on or for too many years and nothing the people can do to change it. Obama said he would close up and bring the troops home in 2007 and he said you can bank on it. For two hundred years the politicians have been lieing to the people. for two hundred years young teenage boys have been dieing for this country and for what? Not to keep us free, no so the wealthy can get wealthier. And in the meantime Washington has been empire building they have expanded Usa from the thiirteen colonies and slaughtered the indians all the way to the Pacific Ocean. And captured Hawaii, Alaska, Porto Rico. I remember that as children we learned about the flag and patriotism but it sure makes one hang his head in shame when a criminal Presdential administration gets away with murder, Mass Murder, and Genocide and walks the streets free and protected by the Secret Service and the present President following in his footsteps. We hated Stalin's Russia's brutal carnage with the Russian people and now we look back at our selves and find that thousands of innocent people were killed in the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan. What is a civilized nation?and what is civilized about us. We are still living animals and from the looks of it, it will take another million years before Homo Sapiens neat the status of intelligent civilized Human beings. But if lucky a giant asteriod may visit earth and remove the life of whatever few may be left behind, so a clean civilized life may be started new.

Can we please tone down the rhetoric? The US is not a colonial power, nor is it in any way as brutal as Stalin...the whole reason these insurgencies even exist is because we abide by the 'rules of war,' I know its a somewhat ridiculous concept but bear with me.

This video does illustrate some blatant violations of the 'Law of Armed Conflict' or LOAC, but those actions are the minority. The proof is in the pudding...during times when the 'rules of war' are abandoned insurgencies fail. For instance, If your town rebelled against the Mongols during the middle-ages, the Khans would just wipe out every living person in that town...thus ending the rebellion. When Warsaw revolted against the Nazi occupation in 1944, it was utterly leveled...the list goes on and on but the lesson is simple: Insurgencies rely on the ability to melt into a civilian population that is sympathetic to their cause, but that population must also be free of the possibility of annihilation in order to provide that sanctuary.

The US military has the power to end the insurgency by destroying the Iraqi people. Thankfully we do not because our morality will not allow for this...

I'm not a 'flag-waver' by any means...we have made many many mistakes through history but our stated values of individual rights, rule of law, and self determination are righteous concepts that, although we don't always live up to, are a touchstone for the American (Western) identity and do not allow for us to act in the ways of Genghis Khan or Hitler...at least not for very long (before it ends up on CNN).

This rush to the extremes...from both the Left and the Right...comparing each other to Hitler or Stalin is silly and it reduces the conversation to feces throwing.

Lets not become the Leftist version of Fox News...

Sometimes I scan across the Telemundo news on satellite and it makes me realize how "cleaned up" our news is in USA.

I almost forgot how pissed I am.

War makes the world much more violent because in war , what is the acceptable solution . It takes 3 generations of a stable society to change the mentality war creates . Even if we knew how to heal the souls of the decent people who went to serve , it is clear they are being abandoned now . Because it is a war for profit , and life is meaning less . War is an imposed madness . Some can recover , some cannot . We will see it on our own soil before to long . Those at the top are sending the best of our young into it . We will not be any safer for it . We'll be less .

Starting with Napoleon's conquests, all wars have been for wealth and power. The deaths of millions of young men and total families does not seem to bother the bankers and elites who finance the wars. If the bankers were deposed, there would be no money to finance the wars and hence the world could search for peace. I almost forgot. Religions have money and are another reason for war, Religions seek larger congregations and hence more donations or contributions. If we were to check on the religions and total up their realestate holdings, it just may shock the public at the vast amount of money and realestate that churches own.