iraq

Film: The Dreams of Sparrows: May, 2005

“In a makeshift cemetery in Iraq, one group of men diligently chips away at rock-hard dirt, carving out trenches. Another carries shrouded bodies and lays them down for burial. Jagged pieces of slate, with lettering in chalk, serve as gravestones. ”A big man with a blue robe and a set of keys,“ reads one -- some of the dead haven't been identified. You won't see this moving, vivid and revealing footage -- shot after the U.S. attack on Fallujah last November -- on your evening news. The scenes come from The Dreams of Sparrows, one of several recent documentaries about the war in Iraq. Shot by a team of Iraqi filmmakers, Dreams is part of an independent, digitally enabled new wave of war reportage. Along with bloggers and independent journalists, Iraq-based filmmakers are transmitting stories they believe have been neglected by mainstream media outlets. ”Americans are missing a lot,“ said Aaron Raskin, the U.S.-based producer of Dreams who spent a month filming in Iraq.”
[Wired] [Dreams of Sparrows]

On Saddam In His Underpants: May, 2005

“Will showing Saddam Hussein in his underpants help our cause in the Middle East? Not among the culture that invented chivalry, to wit, the Arab culture, and believes you must treat your enemy with honour. Not among the Red Cross, who thinks it a breach of the Geneva Convention. Not among European editorialists to whom images of naked people being tormented and killed, in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, bring thoughts of the Holocaust. Not among those civil libertarians who value trial by jury, the right to a lawyer and a pay phone, and release on bail before one's day in court. To all of these it shows barbarism, a conquering army of ignorant rednecks out of control. Imagine, for instance, a photo of the naked Colin Powell urinating on the floor. Would that help our enemies' cause? Some in the US apparently think it would. Show your foe humiliated, abject and helpless and his followers will give up the struggle.”
[Adbusters]

On Saddam In His Underpants: May, 2005

“Will showing Saddam Hussein in his underpants help our cause in the Middle East? Not among the culture that invented chivalry, to wit, the Arab culture, and believes you must treat your enemy with honour. Not among the Red Cross, who thinks it a breach of the Geneva Convention. Not among European editorialists to whom images of naked people being tormented and killed, in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, bring thoughts of the Holocaust. Not among those civil libertarians who value trial by jury, the right to a lawyer and a pay phone, and release on bail before one's day in court. To all of these it shows barbarism, a conquering army of ignorant rednecks out of control. Imagine, for instance, a photo of the naked Colin Powell urinating on the floor. Would that help our enemies' cause? Some in the US apparently think it would. Show your foe humiliated, abject and helpless and his followers will give up the struggle.”
[Adbusters]