Leading to War

The makers of this film have assembled a collection of statements made by members of the Bush Administration in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq. The power of the film is in its simplicity. It is dispassionate. No moralizing, no condemnation -- the guilty just hang themselves.

The principal tactic the Bush people used to engineer the invasion of Iraq was to weave together: 1) truths (Saddam Hussein is a bad guy); 2) half-truths (he wants nuclear weapons); and, 3) outright falsehoods (he is a year away from having nuclear weapons). The truths get people nodding in agreement, the half truths sound plausible enough, and the listeners end up buying the falsehoods.

The second tactic was to revert to emotionally laden symbolism. Count the times Bush said he was fighting for "freedom"; Saddam Hussein is "evil"; we are "defending America." There are many people for whom these words and terms resonate. Who can disagree that "freedom" is good and "evil" is bad?

This is a film that should be shown in History classes and Public Relations classes: the first, to show how the disaster happened, the second to teach how to get people to buy into something every fiber in their being should be telling them is wrong.

I will show this DVD to as many people as I can, and I will save it for my 3 year old son for his future watching. This is a very powerful DVD as it contains many news footage of the Bush Administration's lies and propaganda leading to the current attack and occupation of Iraq. The DVD touched me with anger and sadness as I asked myself how can these government liars still hold office, make public speeches, write books, smile, and act as if all is going well. I thought and still think of all the dead and injured Iraqi and American service people who paid dearly to make the bully machine feel more powerful. This DVD is for right-wingers, left-wingers, moderates, all women, all children, all men, all religious creeds, free-thinkers, war-mongers, peace-makers, patriots, anyone who is objective, open-minded and reasonable. This DVD is for anyone who wants to be reminded that it is very easy to fall into the traps of lies and deceptions. It reminds us we have to question and question and never give up until the truth comes out. It reminds us just because they hold higher office it does not make them honest and smart. Watch this DVD and think. -- Guadalupe Ramos, California

When the airplanes struck the Twin Towers, I was 15 years old. I don't know if it's because of growing older myself, or because of that single date that the whole world seemed to have changed drastically. Not too long a go I realized that people that are younger than I am (now up to 21) probably remember 'the world' before 9/11 not as vividly anymore, instead the cold world of fear since 2001 and its politics are all they know. Watching this documentary I'm still angry that my parents, the media, the politicians and actually everyone else with a sound mind let things get this far out of hand. The patriot act, Afghanistan and Iraq. I know for sure that in a decade we will look back and finally we will dare to say out loud that we were mislead and manipulated by Bush's administration. A historical document like this film is therefor of great importance so that my parents won't forget the global crimes that have been committed in their time and that my generation will know this time is an ugly time which hopefully we can make better real soon again. It doesn't have to be this way.