Credited cast: | |||
Ken Adelman | ... | Self | |
John Ashcroft | ... | Self (archive footage) | |
Osama bin Laden | ... | Self (archive footage) | |
George Bush | ... | Self (archive footage) | |
George W. Bush | ... | Self (archive footage) | |
Robert Byrd | ... | Self (archive footage) | |
Frank Capra | ... | Self (archive footage) | |
Dick Cheney | ... | Self (archive footage) | |
Joseph Cirincione | ... | Self | |
Bill Clinton | ... | Self (archive footage) | |
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Anh Duong | ... | Self |
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Gwynne Dyer | ... | Self |
Dwight D. Eisenhower | ... | Self (archive footage) | |
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John S.D. Eisenhower | ... | Self |
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Susan Eisenhower | ... | Self |
He may have been the ultimate icon of 1950s conformity and postwar complacency, but Dwight D. Eisenhower was an iconoclast, visionary, and the Cassandra of the New World Order. Upon departing his presidency, Eisenhower issued a stern, cogent warning about the burgeoning "military industrial complex," foretelling with ominous clarity the state of the world in 2004 with its incestuous entanglement of political, corporate, and Defense Department interests. Written by Ørnås
As a European I've wondered about America's preoccupation with war and military. Most Europeans oppose military solutions, even when there's a good case for it, probably because of our history of many, many bloody wars.
This movie explains the historic, financial and political reasons for America's enormous military spending (but I'm still left wondering why the people of USA want it).
Eisenhower's farewell speech was very insightful. I had no idea he had seen the dangers already 40 years ago. Using this speech as the base, the filmmaker looks at how the military-industrial establishment has grown to enormous proportions. The military is a part of American society in a way completely different from most European countries.
I would like to see a sequel to this movie, dealing more with American society, perhaps contrasting it with some other big countries (England, France, Germany).