U.S. Politics in "A Galaxy Far, Far Away"

Not so long ago, in the not-so distant galaxy of California, a young filmmaker named George Lucas created a compelling space opera involving talking robots, deep space dog fights, intense lightsaber duels, and an epic struggle between "The Rebellion" and the Galactic Empire. As a new take on the timeless story of good versus evil, Lucas' fascinating tale changed pop culture and cinema forever.

The "Star Wars" saga spawned the most successful movie and marketing franchise in history, as well as some of cinema's most memorable characters, including noble Luke Skywalker, cocky Han Solo, the radiant Princess Leia, widely reviled Jar Jar Binks, and of course, Darth Vader, perhaps the most recognizable movie villain of all time.

Revolutionary as the original "Star Wars" trilogy was, it was decidedly apolitical. Such is not the case with Lucas' latest films, three prequels to the original 1977 film. "Revenge of the Sith," the last film in the "Star Wars" saga, is awash in political meaning, both general and quite specific to the present day United States.

"Revenge of the Sith" is the keystone to the entire "Star Wars" series: in two and a half hours of screen time we learn how the good Jedi Anakin Skywalker becomes evil Sith Lord Darth Vader, paralleled by the metamorphosis of a democratic Republic into the Galactic Empire. Through subtle and not so subtle language and imagery, George Lucas compares the events in the movie to what is happening at home and abroad.

In the "Star Wars" prequels, the snaky Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Senate, absorbs power by promising to restore peace to the democratic Republic, which is under attack by separatist forces that Palpatine secretly controls.

To gain absolute power, Palpatine convinces senators from across the galaxy that the Jedi are plotting to overthrow him. His lies fool the politicians, as well as the young Jedi Anakin Skywalker. Palpatine lures Anakin to the dark side by promising to save Anakin's wife Padme from a death Anakin envisions in his nightmares. After becoming Palpatine's new apprentice, Anakin slaughters the Jedi and separatists with Palpatine's army of human clone warriors.

Since 9/11, the Bush administration has used our collective fear of terrorism just as Emperor Palpatine used the Clone Wars: to increase the executive branch's power at home, and increase America's power abroad.

Like Palpatine, the Bush administration has been able to feed on people's fears to gain more power. The regular (and many think politically motivated) changing of the color-coded terror "threat advisory" level system is just one telling example.

The Bush administration has also toyed with citizens' emotions by using 9/11 images constantly in speeches, invoking images of burning buildings and grieving families to promote the war in Iraq and various domestic policies, such as the Patriot Act, that often limit freedoms in the name of national security.

In the "Star Wars" universe, Palpatine spent years plotting to launch a war and build a massive, unstoppable army to dominate the Republic. Now, it is becoming more obvious that the Bush administration planned to invade Iraq since coming to office.

Journalist Greg Palast recently published a timeline that shows the State Department began planning to remove Saddam Hussein from power as early as February of 2001. The recently publicized and much debated Downing Street memos also argue that the Bush administration hungered to topple Saddam far before any bombs fell in Baghdad.

The memos state that British and U.S. officials met in July of 2002, months before Congress was consulted about the war. According to the memos, intelligence was being "fixed around the policy."

Among the many shifting reasons President Bush and his staff gave for launching a war on Iraq, fear played a large part in the perceived threat of Saddam Hussein's WMDs. And just as Palpatine claimed that waging the Clone Wars and killing the Jedi would "restore peace to the galaxy," so has Bush announced that ousting Saddam would allow peace, democracy, and prosperity to blossom throughout the Middle East.