Tunnel Light
I just caught some of No End In Sight (2007) on TV. It's a highly regarded, award-winning documentary about the mistakes made in Iraq. (It gave critics across the nation yet another chance to express their political views, just in case there was any doubt where they stood.)
A question: now that the end is in sight, in part because the Bush administration ignored a lot of people's advice--the very thing No End In Sight criticizes them for--will the filmmakers do a sequel?
posted by LAGuy @ 12:17 AM
13 Comments:
Another question. Not including enemy propaganda, how common have films been that attack what the military is doing during an ongoing conflict?
Yes lets go back and review that winning strategy- We're going to make it (or in fairness allow it to become)so bad there, that we are going to force our enemies to cooperate with us in the hopes that we will leave. (Although put more supportively, this was essentially Rumsfeld's explanation of the current state of Iraq in his 11/23 NYT op-ed). Its an interesting explanation because it doesn't fit neatly into the either the left or right narratives about the war.
The last comment is the best piece of spin that I have seen. "We made it so bad there..." How did we make it bad? Tell me what actions we took? I have been saying all along that Rumsfeld was a genius and his strategy should be followed in future occupations. The problem with the massive force strategy is that it does not win the hearts and minds. The insurgence never get seen as the truly bad guys they are because their brand fo government is never abel to fully control anything. I think if we used the Rumsfeld strategy in Vietnam, we would have saved allot of soldiers and possibly won the war. Rumsfeld strategy is freedom. You give people the freedom to sort this out and are present just to keep a lid on things. All insurgencies against the US are corrupt and will always overplay their hand with the population when allowed. We just need to be there for that population when they decide this isn't what they want.
How did we make it bad?
Six figure violent death tolls among civilians are "bad" in my moral universe.
QueensGuy, the problem with your argument is the "We".
After the surge, violence went way down everywhere, so that Iraq was peaceful enough (more peaceful than pre-war) that normal life could continue in all the cities and all the political benchmarks that the defeat at all costs party was demanding were met. Spin that away, QueensGuy.
The point here is the movie claims Bush screwed up royally right from the start, so much so that it was a hopeless quagmire. Well since then, Bush did change strategies and it seems to have worked out, and all the smug experts who said he didn't know what he was doing and generally said it was time to bug out have been proved just as wrong. Isn't that worth making a movie about?
That spin makes no sense. It insurgents target civilians so successfully that they are forced to cooperate with us? If thousands of dead civilians is an undesirable outcome for our enemies, then why did they kill them? If their intention was to kill many civilians (to start a civil war for example, or to garner international sympathy) why would they be forced to cooperate if they were successful in their goal?
It was, in fact, the contrast between how Coalition forces treated civilians and how the insurgents treated civilians that paved the way for the successful surge strategy.
You have it exactly backwards. It got so bad that Iraqis were "forced" to cooperate with us in the hopes that we would eliminate the insurgents, though they have little love for American troops.
all the political benchmarks that the defeat at all costs party was demanding were met
Specifics, please. My understanding is that there is general acknowledgement that the political improvements have in no way kept pace with the security improvements.
QueensGuy, the problem with your argument is the "We".
The policy at my local Pottery Barn is "you break it, you buy it."
Queensguy,
Iraq is not Pottery Barn.
How about if you organize the Pottery Barn and during the extra union-required coffee break, more pottery is regularly broken by employees not paying attention?
Someone call the metaphor squad stat. We've got a situation developing here.
Post a Comment
<< Home