MEETING RESISTANCE

Written by Fumo Verde

So who are these terrorists in Iraq and what is it that they hate about freedom and liberty that they would blow themselves up to fight against it? Meeting Resistance is a documentary that brings humanness to those who we are fighting in this global war on terror of which the front lines are now Iraq. Who are these Iraqis and why after being suppressed for so long by a brutal dictator will they not accept this liberty of which we have fought so hard for them to have. Directors Steve Connors and Molly Bingham do a fine job of finding out and present it to us in a unique style meant to show why people fight against what we as Americans think is best for them.

Connors and Bingham were in Baghdad a few months prior to the beginning of the war and stayed throughout the conflict and into the early beginnings of the occupation. After the fall of Saddam and the looting was over, they noticed the small-arms fire U.S. soldiers were taking every so often. With the bombing of Abu Hanifeh and the attack on the scared shrines of Imam’s Hussein and Abbas, they noticed those “every so often” attacks happening more and more. While some were calling it an insurgency and saying that it was Al Qaeda and Saddam loyalists that were at the root of all the troubles, Connor and Bingham wanted to find out for themselves. Through their contacts and with a lot of luck, they were able to interview twelve Iraqis who consider themselves to be part of a resistance.

It is interesting to hear what these people had to say. Some of the people were here for jihad: a young man from Syria, and a lieutenant from the Mojahed who believes that an attack on an Islamic nation is a direct attack on Islam itself. But most of this insurgency comes from local people, individuals who have lost loved ones and feel a sense of pride in their nation, and now that it has been invaded they feel they must kick the invader out. Most of these people hated Saddam, but they now hate the Americans. They see how when the Americans are attacked they just start spraying bullets in all directions killing whoever or whatever is in the path of those flying bullets. This is why IEDs became the weapon of choice. The resistance fighters know that to keep the community on their side, they have to try and keep the civilian tragedies at a low, or else their local support wanes. The question about who is killing the civilian population Connors and Bingham can only speculate that it must be politically motivated because the resistance cannot afford to lose the support of the civilian population.

We learn that money and weapons are coming in from outside sources, but we also come to understand the Iraqi people use their own money. These people are barely making it to survive yet they will take part of whatever they have earned for the day and give to the group they are fighting with. They want us out of their county and they will do whatever it takes to get us out. If we think that we will be in Iraq for a hundred years and all will be peaceful like it is in Korea, guess again. The Iraqi people, like people anywhere, will overcome hardships and religious riffs to unite and fight off an occupying force for as long as it takes. And though religion plays a big part in the lives of these Iraqis—for even fighting for your own country, a nationalist idea—is still a fight for Islam.

To this day the pentagon has confirmed that we have killed about one hundred thousand insurgents, and yet they keep coming and coming. This will be a generational war were the children we have today will be fighting the children of these resistance fighters tomorrow. It is our duty a citizens to know and understand the enemies we fight and Meeting Resistance is one step closer to understanding what we have truly gotten ourselves into.

NO END IN SIGHT

Written by Fumo Verde

It is now the summer of 2007 and by most accounts the Iraq War isn’t turning out the way the Bush administration had planned, or at least that’s what Democrats, the mainstream media, returning vets, the late great Pat Tillman and, by most polls, 68% of the U.S. public say. The few dissenting voices before the invasion stated that winning the war would be easy; it’s winning the peace that really counts. So, what was the Bush Plan? Was it like the Marshal Plan?

In No End In Sight, Charles Ferguson brings us the people who were there to start the rebuilding of that war-torn country after their government had fell. General Paul Hughes was in charge of the total reconstruction. He still can’t believe how poorly and how deliberately the Bush administration took care of its promise to bring peace and democracy. Get ready for the real shock and awe.

Ferguson opens us up with a speech by Donald Rumsfeld where he thanks Pres. Bush for understanding what most Americans didn’t about this “not well known, not well understood, and very complex war.” To think he was talking about the American public. No End In Sight will open your eyes to see how badly the administration handled post-war Iraq and how that relates to the problems we have today.

When invading another country you would like the civilian population to be on your side. To this, humanitarian relief and aid are needed, referred to as “winning the hearts and minds.” During WWII, the allies had planned for the occupation of Germany two years prior to the invasion of Europe. The Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Aid (ORHA) was set up by the Bush administration and were given sixty days to come up with a plan to reconstruct Iraq. Sixty days, that’s what you give your landlord when you’re going to move out of an apartment.

We hear from over a dozen people, civilians and officials, who give first-hand accounts about how they were recruited by the White House to help with the occupation but were then removed when their voices spoke out about how the situation on the ground was truly being handled. Ret. Gen. Jay Garner, who in the first Gulf War was in command of the humanitarian aide and was put in charge of ORHA this time around. He tells of the complete ineptitude the administration had towards ORHA and those who were there to help the Iraqi people. Richard Armitage, then Deputy Secretary of State tells us of the struggle he and his boss, Secretary of State Colin Powell, had with Rumsfeld and others about the troop levels needed for an occupation. Amazingly, Armitage and Powell were the only ones in the Bush administration who had ever seen combat, yet the dogs of war held those battle vets at bay.

We come to understand that the real problems started when the U.S. let the looting begin. Rumsfeld joked that the news channels were showing the same vase being stolen over and over again, and things like this happen even during riots in America. Marines and others on the ground tell a different story, one not of people stealing diapers and food or televisions and golf clubs, but of people stealing heavy machinery parts from power plants and other industrial facilities. It was said people were chipping away at concrete walls to take out the rebar. This isn’t your every day looting, and it actually showed the world this administration didn’t care about the Iraqi people. A report just this month shows that more than half of Iraqis are without clean water, food, and medical aid—all which a devastated nation needs to get back on its feet.

No End In Sight shows what those first voices of dissent were saying, which was this administration had no plan for post-war Iraq. They were called naysayers and far-left Bush haters, but as this quagmire goes on we now see through the bullshit the White House, along with its mouthpiece the Fox Opinion Channel, throws at us, and we don’t believe it anymore. This documentary connects the dots from the end of Desert Strom right up to the Surge, which we know is like a kid putting his finger in a dike as other leaks spout all around him. Those who had the gut instinct to speak out against the “plan” this administration had for Iraq will see this and say, “I knew it all along.” Those on the side of the President will push this aside as leftist propaganda, but for the ones still on the fence, the people who don’t watch the news or don’t want to get involved, this might sway your opinion.

The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina was a mirror reflection of how the Bush administration and the Republican Congress dropped the ball when it came to being the world’s leader. If we are supposed to be bringing truth and justice to people, it would be beneficial to us along with those who we are helping, to protect them from chaos and instill some type of law and order, to have a plan to stabilize the infrastructure, and aid those in need. When invading a country, this looks good on a resume, you know. If this flick had come out back in 2004 things might be different, but as it stands right now, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place and with the lack of any leadership coming from the White House.

The first war of the twenty first century today, still has no end in sight.