War Made Easy HOW PRESIDENTS & PUNDITS KEEP SPINNING US TO DEATH FEATURING NORMAN SOLOMON NARRATED BY SEAN PENN T R A N S C R I P T _____ GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR: Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world, and that God will preserve it … Video availability outside of United States varies. Loretta Alper. Solid majorities in France and Germany believe the U.S. is conducting the war on terrorism in order to control Mideast oil and dominate the world. Extreme gaps in perceptions between people in the United States and the rest of the world were markers for the ease with which the American public was apt to accept rationales for going to war that were widely rejected elsewhere on the planet. Largely unknown except in a few law enforcement circles, Jelly Bryce was at the forefront Weeks later, the news broke that some of those inspectors had been conducting espionage. Our principal aim is to maintain the stability and relative tranquility of the current international system by enforcing, maintaining, and extending the current peace." And the sparse U.S. coverage that did take place mostly downplayed the significance of the Observer's revelations. The stories and lessons left by these war films are priceless. Click or Press Enter to view the items in your shopping bag or Press Tab to interact with the Shopping bag tooltip. A year after the invasion of Iraq, "discontent with America and its policies has intensified rather than diminished," said an international study released in March 2004 by the Pew Research Center, which reported that "perceptions of American unilateralism remain widespread in European and Muslim nations, and the war in Iraq has undermined America's credibility abroad." While the administration's upper echelons might be fiercely criticized as ideologues, bunglers, myopic policy wonks, or dissembling politicians, the media assumption largely remains that Washington has laudable motivations. I never stop wondering about how easy it is too fool people with one of the most powerful weapons; the media. gym. and the western front. But not in the United States. During 1998, Clinton administration officials and U.S. news media kept insisting that the U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq weren't spies and had to be given full access to all sites in the country. The Observer added: "The leaked memorandum makes clear that the target of the heightened surveillance efforts are the delegations from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan at the U.N. headquarters in New York-the so-called 'Middle Six' delegations whose votes are being fought over by the pro-war party, led by the U.S. and Britain, and the party arguing for more time for U.N. inspections, led by France, China and Russia.". War Made Easy full free pdf books Fun to use, versatile, and amazingly effective. Discover the Power of Dialogue to Heal Religious Division How can members of different faith Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Celebrating such a pose of simultaneous humility and grandeur, Krauthammer rejoiced that the George W. Bush administration had embraced "the premise that overwhelming American power is good not just for the United States but for the world.". delegates." But belief in the capacity of U.S. military might to bring salvation to benighted portions of the world was a type of patriotic faith-so intense and so deeply held that it could be understood as a form of religiosity. Auto Suggestions are available once you type at least 3 letters. But "we could get no confirmation or comment" on the memo from U.S. officials. Fast forward: The media buildup for an invasion of Iraq benefited from routine omissions of facts about the use of the U.N. inspection teams for espionage. "The main reason for the absence of a serious challenge to American hegemony is that it is so benign," Krauthammer went on. The smoking gun was "a memorandum written by a top official at the National Security Agency-the U.S. body which intercepts communications around the world-and circulated to both senior agents in his organization and to a friendly foreign intelligence agency." Of interest to both public and academic libraries.-Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ. EMBED (for wordpress.com hosted blogs and archive.org item
tags) Want more? Cast & Crew. Important and thought provoking, if sometimes a bit familiar, Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2012, Powerful, if slightly familiar examination of how the US government lies to get us into war, and how the media happily, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2013. The White House usually has good reason to be satisfied that U.S. media coverage does not dwell on information running counter to such neat divisions of labor. Unsubtle, condensed and bullet-point simple, “War Made Easy” avoids fancy visuals for a uniformly drab and dispiriting aesthetic. Norman Solomon alleges government manipulation of the press and facts to make war attractive. Readers were encouraged to perceive that as a very good situation. Several days after the "embarrassing disclosure," not a word about it had appeared in America's supposed paper of record. Select the department you want to search in. Gauging attitudes in the United States and three historically allied nations (Britain, France, and Germany) as well as in Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, and Turkey, the study by the Pew Research Center found "there is broad agreement in nearly all of the countries surveyed-the U.S. being a notable exception-that the war in Iraq hurt, rather than helped, the war on terrorism." Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2015, Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Four months after George W. Bush became president, Krauthammer's lengthy essay "The Bush Doctrine" had been effusive in the Weekly Standard: "Today, the United States remains the preeminent economic, military, diplomatic, and cultural power on a scale not seen since the fall of the Roman Empire.... At the dawn of the 21st century, the task of the new administration is to develop a military and foreign policy appropriate to our position of overwhelming dominance.... By position and nature, we are essentially a status quo power. "The world at the turn of the 21st century is not multipolar but unipolar," he wrote. We are no longer in the era of the United Fruit Company, when American corporations needed the Marines to secure their investments overseas. Download War Made Easy full book in PDF, EPUB, and Mobi Format, get it for read on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Movie Details. It is the imperialism of a people who remember that their country secured its independence by revolt against an empire, and who like to think of themselves as the friend of freedom everywhere. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. ©1997-2021 Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Inc. 33 East 17th Street, New York, NY 10003. of the conflict during America’s gangster era. The key word was "timely." Solomon claims that LBJ's handling of this invasion established the prototype for a media agenda employed by subsequent presidents to create public approval for their actions. Krauthammer certainly recognized that foreign rivals were restless. For several nights in December 1998, the United States and Britain fired hundreds of cruise missiles at Iraq-with the rationale that the regime in Baghdad hadn't cooperated enough with the inspectors. Journalists working for the London-based Observer revealed other threads of a spying tapestry that showed the U.S. government to be persistently engaged in espionage to smooth the way for war. Yet the outlook was favorable: "None have the power to challenge America now. In 2005, Norman Solomon released his book, War Made Easy, which exposes the manner in which US presidents manage to sell war, like clockwork, … There's a problem loading this menu right now. It is an empire without consciousness of itself as such, constantly shocked that its good intentions arouse resentment abroad. And the embarrassment was nearly worldwide. Meticulously researched, Joan Crawford: The Last Word deals in full with her long movie career Unlike certain countries that object to U.S. military actions, Uncle Sam does not march to the beat of crass ulterior motives, or so the conventional wisdom goes; the grave matters of foreign policy and war are not mainly about American self-interest, much less about corporate interests. 1 hr 13 min. War scenarios can get swift traction on a track paved with the assumption that "overwhelming American power is good not just for the United States but for the world." Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death (2007) near you. ", But to a pundit like Krauthammer, the sincerity of American power is inherent and necessarily unapologetic. War Made Easy = How Pundits Keep Spinning Us To Death Movies Preview remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. How could that be? The New York Times-the single most influential news outlet in the United States-still had not printed anything about the story. Up to 50% Off Select Toys and Collectibles, Knock Knock Gifts, Books & Office Supplies, B&N Exclusive Holiday Totes - $4.99 with Purchase, Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser, 20th Century American History - Relations - General & Miscellaneous, U.S. Members save with free shipping everyday! A brief flurry of critical analysis occurred in a few media outlets. EMBED. ("The world is stirring.") War Made Easy cuts through the dense web of spin to probe and scrutinize the key "perception management" techniques that have played huge roles in the promotion of American wars in recent decades. Ramsey Clark was excellent in the interview, as was the other woman that spoke on film. These include portraying America as a fair and noble superpower, whose honest leaders work hard to avoid war, and the enemy leader as an aggressive, Hitler-like violator of human rights who will do much harm unless the United States intervenes. We have no particular desire to remake human nature, to conquer for the extraction of natural resources, or to rule for the simple pleasure of domination. Author Norman Soloman teams with actor Sean Penn to encourage critical thinking about media spin during wartime. by generations of those who came before us, as they endeavored to express the meaning of their lives and their relationship to God. War Made Easy is a documentary about how the government programs us to accept its agendas, with war used as the example in this study of government deception. As anti-Israel sentiment spreads around the worldfrom Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to former President Jimmy Carterit has never been more ... World-famous bodybuilder, Steve Michalik - Mr. America, Mr. USA, Mr. Universe - has put a ... World-famous bodybuilder, Steve Michalik - Mr. America, Mr. USA, Mr. Universe - has put a Synopsis. On 1999's last telecast of the CBS program Sunday Morning, a confident pronouncement came from Harold Evans, editor of U.S. News & World Report as well as the New York Daily News: "I would be prepared to say it will be another American century." To its adherents, the doubters were the rough political equivalents of heathens, no matter how much the ranks of the unfaithful continued to swell. War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death Directed by Loretta Alper, Jeremy Earp Documentary, History, War Not Rated 1h 13m (more…) By Jeff, 4 years 2 years ago . War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death Synopsis. He begins in 1965, when President Johnson crafted public messages as he sent troops to the Dominican Republic. War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death a book by Norman Solomon And this kind of feel-good talk about an American empire is hardly peculiar to neo-conservative pundits. By familiarizing viewers with the techniques of war propaganda, War Made Easy encourages viewers to think critically about the messages put War Made Easy brings to the screen … Get unlimited DVD Movies & TV Shows delivered to your door with no late fees, ever. There may have been some flaws in the editing, but the content was still very good. While noting "Saddam Hussein's numerous complaints that U.N. inspection teams included American spies were apparently not imaginary," the newspaper mentioned that the espionage operatives "planted eavesdropping devices in hopes of monitoring forces that guarded Mr. Hussein as well as searching for hidden arms stockpiles." Documentary. I was an Army medic in Vietnam, and have done a great deal of photojournalism around that war. ENTER CITY, STATE OR ZIP CODE GO. NR. While assertions of American benevolence have been never-ending, the first years of the twenty-first century brought some variations in the mantra depicting the U.S. government as beloved the world over (except for some malcontents). Whatever the question or circumstance, American power remains the potential answer-sometimes utilized, sometimes withheld, always an option. "Well, it's not that we haven't been interested," Times deputy foreign editor Alison Smale said on the evening of March 5, nearly ninety-six hours after the Observer broke the story. The preparations were far more than just rhetorical. WAR MADE EASY is a short, but powerful look at how media pundits, government officials, policy makers, and pressure groups, working in conjunction with a fawning and compliant Free Press, have conjured up a belligerent American foreign policy of Orwellian dimensions. Libs., Washington, DC (Library Journal, July 15, 2005). Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. a book by Norman Solomon. War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death is a 2007 American documentary film. A frequent writer for the New York Times Magazine, Michael Ignatieff at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, had this to say in its first edition of 2003: "America's empire is not like empires of times past, built on colonies, conquest and the white man's burden. You can view Barnes & Noble’s Privacy Policy. "It does not extract tribute. Politics & Government - General & Miscellaneous, A Dream of Zion: American Jews Reflect on, Atomic Fitness: The Alternative to Drugs, Steroids, Wacky, Christians & Jews in Dialogue: Learning in the. Whatever the rationale, the New York Times opted not to cover the story at all. Rent War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death (2007) starring Walter Cronkite and Sean Penn on DVD and Blu-ray. Woody Watson. and explores in detail her turbulent private life. Such information, forthrightly presented, would have been relevant in news reports during 2002 and early 2003 to explain some of the earlier tensions as well as some current Iraqi concerns. How can they confront the painful conflicts in their history and overcome theological misconceptions? The unipolar moment will surely last for at least a generation.". Movie Tags:murder. Tactical setbacks and propaganda disasters can be jarring, but the assurances of moral virtue and military capability seem to carry the day. The film is narrated by Sean Penn and is adapted from the book of the same name, authored by Norman Solomon. Use up arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+up arrow) and down arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+down arrow) to review and enter to select. "U.S. Spied on Iraq Under U.N. Cover, Officials Now Say," a front-page New York Times headline announced on January 7, 1999. This is a collection of World War II related motion pictures & historical related documentaries. People in Muslim nations who doubt the sincerity of American anti-terror efforts see a wider range of ulterior motives, including helping Israel and targeting unfriendly Muslim governments and groups. Quality Sleep – There is a lot of evidence to prove the fact that memory foam can provide you with the quality sleep that you need. "This leak," he replied, "is more timely and potentially more important than the Pentagon Papers." But such concerns quickly evaporated in U.S. news media, with the Washington press corps engaged in selective attention deficit disorder. The virtual disappearance of the early 1999 story about U.S. spying via the U.N. inspections made it easy for President Bush to slip this righteous line into his March 17, 2003, speech just before the invasion: "Over the years, U.N. weapons inspectors have been threatened by Iraqi officials, electronically bugged and systematically deceived.". One month free trial! Travelling or based outside United States? The prayer book is our Jewish diary of the centuries, a collection of prayers composed “War Made Easy” opens fire on the media and their overall absolute carelessness. Featured News. News outlets may feature arguments about the wisdom of going to war in a particular place at a specific time, but these are usually differences over tactics and priorities. One of the punditocracy's leading hawks with intellectual plumage, Charles Krauthammer, reiterated in late spring 2001: "We run a uniquely benign imperium. An invaluable introduction to war propaganda and public relations that transcends partisan politics and raises serious questions about the role of journalism and political communication in our society. Original Language: English. The 21st century imperium is a new invention in the annals of political science, an empire lite, a global hegemony whose grace notes are free markets, human rights and democracy, enforced by the most awesome military power the world has ever known. War Made Easy (3) IMDb ... IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities: IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need: Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime: Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy : For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Sign in to see videos available to you. Summary: War Made Easy brings to the screen Norman Solomon's insightful analysis of the strategies used by administrations, both Democratic and Republican, to promote their agendas for war, from Vietnam to Iraq. Storyline War Made Easy 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. The subsequent foreign policy of President George W. Bush proved to be a global breakthrough for the project. War Made Easy cuts through the dense web of spin to probe and scrutinize the key ""perception management"" techniques that have played huge roles in the promotion of American wars in recent decades. "As part of its battle to win votes in favor of war against Iraq," the Observer had reported on March 2, 2003, the U.S. government developed an "aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the e-mails of U.N. Full Cast & Crew News Buy DVD. The Fitball is a large air-filled ball used for exercising at home or at the ... as Les Hector. Many other commentators with big media megaphones, across a mainstream political spectrum, took it up during the first few years of the twenty-first century. The nation's biggest newsmagazine closed 1999 with a forward-looking headline on its back page: "A Second American Century?" War. So, when there's news that American spying operations have undermined possibilities for peace, the shelf life of the story is apt to be fleeting. It does not seek military occupation. Providing some answers was Time columnist Charles Krauthammer. But the results of global surveys rendered such claims increasingly laughable. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations. It is not interested in acquiring territory." Publication of the top-secret Pentagon Papers in 1971, made possible by Ellsberg's heroic decision to leak those documents, came after the Vietnam War had been under way for many years. The Times of London, noting that the Bush administration "finds itself isolated" in its zeal for war on Iraq, called the leak of the memo an "embarrassing disclosure." Many other media outlets were also buoyant. While some films criticize armed conflicts in a general sense, others focus on acts within a specific war, such as the use of poison gas or the genocidal killing of civilians (e.g., Hotel Rwanda, 2004).Some anti-war films such as Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) use parody and black comedy to satirize wars and conflicts. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser, * Media critic Solomon (Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You) looks at the pro-war propaganda generated by the U.S. government during military interventions, emphasizing the influence of the media upon public opinion. In the fourth book of this ten-volume series, the action is divided between northern Virginia Thank you for viewing. War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us To Death ... and it's a job it couldn't do without the full cooperation of the media. Solomon’s argument is an obvious one in that corporate news is impossible to trust. Submit your email address to receive Barnes & Noble offers & updates. Here at War Made Easy The Movie, we noticed some of these films have become so popular that until now, they are still remembered by their fans and even the newer generation. In 1997 some prominent superhawks-including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz-had founded an organization they chose to call the Project for a New American Century. ", How pleasant and appealing this "empire lite" is apt to sound, with the lilts of "free markets, human rights and democracy," so that any wars involved are very likely to merit full support! Sporadically narrated by Sean Penn (evincing all the personality of a potato), the movie is cinematically inert if ultimately persuasive. lifetime of knowledge and skill into this powerful new book. The NSA memo, dated January 31, 2003, outlined the wide scope of the surveillance activities, seeking any information useful to push a war resolution through the Security Council-"the whole gamut of information that could give U.S. policymakers an edge in obtaining results favorable to U.S. goals or to head off surprises." Watch War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us To Death movie trailer and get the latest cast info, photos, movie review and more on TVGuide.com. We could not wait to get out of Haiti, and we would get out of Kosovo and Bosnia today if we could. Read full review In contrast, the Pew research findings were clear: "Publics in the surveyed countries other than the United States express considerable skepticism of America's motives in its global struggle against terrorism. as Glen Briggs. DIRECTOR. traditions approach each other with openness and respect? In early March 2003, a few days after that British newspaper revealed a secret memo about U.S. spying on U.N. Security Council delegations, I asked Daniel Ellsberg to assess the importance of the story. In American media and political arenas, it is routine to ascribe lofty motivations to U.S. foreign policy, a mind-set that tends to limit outcries even when White House policies are undergoing harsh criticism. The very war that had been promoted, in part, as necessary for maintaining American "credibility" was, in fact, severely damaging it. While there are enormous geopolitical advantages to be gained and massive profits to be made as consequences of exercising Pentagon muscle, the media discourse customarily excludes drawing attention to such dynamics as major factors in deployment of the country's armed forces. The disparities of outlooks foreshadowed any number of scenarios when the United States, with its window on the world tinted red-white-and-blue, could engage in warfare that the vast majority of the world renounced. The article was unequivocal: "United States officials said today that American spies had worked undercover on teams of United Nations arms inspectors ferreting out secret Iraqi weapons programs.... By being part of the team, the Americans gained a firsthand knowledge of the investigation and a protected presence inside Baghdad." This is not mere self-congratulation; it is a fact manifest in the way others welcome our power." more than they do now. "There's every reason to think the upcoming 100 years will prove to be yet another American century," according to Fortune magazine. "That the spies are using the United Nations as a cover is deplorable." A follow-up Times story pointed out: "Reports that the United States used the United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq as cover for spying on Saddam Hussein are dimming any chances that the inspection system will survive.". Fitball Workout: The Easy Way to a Toned, Legendary Lawman: The Story of Quick Draw Jelly, My People's Prayer Book: Birkhot Hashachar (Morning Blessings). They confront the painful conflicts in their history and overcome theological misconceptions uh-oh, it like. Discover the power to challenge America now resentment abroad more timely and potentially more important than the Pentagon.! Some very bold statements Made in the film is narrated by Sean to. 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