WAR MADE EASY

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. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official

distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American

news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential

administrations.

War Made Easy gives special attention to parallels between the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq. Guided

by media critic Norman Solomon’s meticulous research and tough-minded analysis, the film presents

disturbing examples of propaganda and media complicity from the present alongside rare footage of

political leaders and leading journalists from the past, including Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Defense

Secretary Robert McNamara, dissident Senator Wayne Morse, and news correspondents Walter Cronkite

and Morley Safer.

Norman Solomon’s work has been praised by the Los Angeles Times as “brutally persuasive” and essential

“for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee.” This film now offers a chance to

see that context on the screen.