1.18.2022

Ever wonder how despite our past lessons on the devastations of war, we still experience the inevitable repetitiveness of it. From World War 1 to the Iraq War, even with the surfacing of the United Nations and other peace treaties, humans can have the audacity to start abominations. Thus, I found it hard to understand whether the past wars have impacted our views on war, mainly because they exist to this date. Upon watching "War made Easy", I realized that war, like all foreign policies, is administered solely by the government, thereby not reflecting the public. I found it difficult to fathom the fact that we the public are being manipulated by the obscurities coming from government officials and the exaggerations from news outlets towards enemies. Moreover, I was baffled by how we can be fooled by such obvious fraudulence, and it made me reevaluate my criticism towards repeating war. 

The documentary dissected the strong ties between media and government opinion, and tactics they use to coerce the public into believing their rhetoric on war. In many instances, government officials emphasize and instill fear towards the enemy. For example, prior to the Iraq war, many US officials during press repeatedly stated that there are weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons, lethal weapons for war purposes. Nowhere in their statements were specific proof that would indicate the existence of such weapons, but the media in response to them also stirred controversy and fear to get the public to positively view the option for war. From hearing just the news and the officials, I wasn't persuaded enough to agree with them. However, knowing that Colin Powell, a revered secretary of state had presented evidence in front of the UN General Assembly about the weapons, my thoughts began to sway. Perhaps there may be weapons of mass destruction in Al-Qaeda. However, further research on this presentation showed otherwise. According to the New Yorker, during the UN speech, Powell insisted there were 3 to 4 sources regarding the evidence for weapons in Iraq. However, following the evidence showed that it came from one source. This allegedly was an opposition party called the Iraq National Congress whom in the past have gained trust from the Bush administration. They may have contorted and manipulated the evidence to make the US's statement sound valid. 

From this, we can see that just because the information is presented in a credible medium, doesn't exclude the possibilities for it being falsified. Moreover, it reveals the amount of effort the US government is putting to kickstart the war. This is because, as the documentary says, once the war starts, there is no excuse to back out. Even with the overwhelming percentage of the public feeling uncomfortable with it, as long as they can't exert authority, the government can promote war no matter what. From seeing the sorrowful faces of the Iraqi children suffering from war, and the abundant other innocent civilians who were faced with bombs, I despised the inability of a country to realize the many jeopardies their war brings. Moreover, I was shocked at how many Americans wanted to withdraw troops as wars progressed. This shows how if the public's opinion is being listened to and can be implemented, wars would have been lost in history. As such, I wonder if there is any possibility for the people to stop a war from happening other than re-electing a new president.