An unflinching look at the anatomy of the American war machine, weaving unforgettable personal stories with commentary by a "who's who" of military and beltway insiders. Inspired by Dwight Eisenhower's legendary farewell speech (in which he coined the phrase "military industrial complex"), film surveys the scorched landscape of a half-century's military adventures, asking how--and telling why--a nation of, by, and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a system whose survival depends on a state of constant war.