Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Everything That's Gone Wrong, June 9, 2008
I've seen this DVD at least three time before I felt I could write about it. One problem I had was putting all of it in context. It's because the "Rush to War" was not just about a rush to war. It was about many topics including the rush to war. It was easy to follow when being viewed, but extremely difficult to write about.
This DVD examines the reasons behind the attacks of 9/11, which includes our history of giving precedence to our support for repressive regimes that served the US interests, rather than the spread of liberty and democracy. Unfortunately, numerous examples abound such as Guatamala, Iran, and Chile where democratically elected governments where overthrown in favor of governments that served our interests.
The "Rush to War" finally gets around to the lead-up to the war and the lies told by the administration regarding weapons of mass destruction (WMD), yellow cake, reconstituted nuclear weapons programs, and the imminent "mushroom cloud," permeating another cloud of fear in this country, and the penchant for moving rashly and foolishly into Iraq. This part concludes that not one WMD was found, and that there was no connection at all, between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. David Kay's lecture here is particularly powerful.
That alone would have been enough, but Robert Taicher wanted to explore more, so he included the abu-Ghraib scandal, the detention of Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant, the exposure of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative, the arrest and conviction of Scooter Libby, and the most poignant of all, and an interview with parents who lost their son in Iraq. What made it so touching was that it was coupled with George W. Bush's speech where he jokes about not being able to find WMD with pictures of him looking under various pieces of furniture in the Oval Office. The message is clear: Whether as an intelligence failure or outright deception, George Bush, at the very least appears grossly insensitive, by making light of an appalling decision that had already cost the lives of hundreds of Americans. The mother who lost her son gives his humor the litmus test: "Would George Bush have done the same in front of the families of the deceased?"
These topics are discussed through the eyes of several illuminaries such as Chris Hedges, General Anthony Zinni (ret), Noam Chomsky, Robert Scheer, Molly Ivans, George McGovern and others. Several quotes add to the story form James Madison, Hermann Goering, George Herbert Walker Bush, and even Adolf Hitler (in a cynical way) reveal wisdom that adds to the theme Robert Taicher is attempting to convey.
Two things I had trouble with about this DVD: It strayed from the thesis. It was all over the political landscape. It would have been more comprehensible if he stayed on the reasons behind world animosity to the US, and our manipulation of intelligence to take us to war. The second source of annoyance was the monotonous, drone-like voice of John Doman. It was worse than Kevin Costner's in "Dances with Wolves," and I didn't think anything could be as bad as that!
This is an excellent, overall discussion of geo-political strategy and blunders of the past seven years. It is also an example of what a government, in the name of security is willing to do. The commentary is outstanding. When Robert Scheer states, that by giving up our liberty for security we have given the terrorists a victory, it is a message worth remembering. While the content is completely worthwhile, it is out of context with its title.
It should have been called, "Everything That's Gone Wrong."
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
MAINLY TALKING HEADS BUT OH SUCH LOVELY HEADS: ZINN, CHOMSKY, MOLLY, BERRIGAN (AND FALWELL??), March 8, 2008
Okay, so I was duped by the odd amazonian custom of crediting DVD's by alphabetical order and by first name, and thus the great director of The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Fando y Lis / El Topo / The Holy Mountain). As there is presently no indication anywhere upon the product page of the real and actual director, I assumed somehow it was Alejandro so inspired by these critical events as to do something far removed from his usual works of mythic, epic, fantastic super-realism. I thought he would bring his infinite vision to these banal, evil, imperial events. But I was duped; he appears merely as another talking head, saying that when the USA goes crazy, we all go crazy.
This DVD therefore may serve as a good conversation starter, as an opening for further reading, as the first class in a course in political science or in the art of war as an example of how and why not to start one. There is much that is wrong with this DVD, including the lack of a brochure insert listing a complete bibliography, and biographies of the briefly subtitled participants; yet there is also much that is right.
The forceful Ritter, who certified the lack of WMD's inclduing nuclear weapons in Iraq prior to our invasion, includes a curious quote from McCain saying the US should never practice torture. I hope that McCain, whatever his future, keeps to this word, and does not veto as was done today any future anti-torture legislation.
The extras include further interviews with Mr. Wilson, whose imperial politics are reprehensible (although he prefers inflicting a state of seige upon nations rather than the shock and awe of the dropping of bombs, his difference is only one of means, not of the evil ends) and yet who does wince when this director, obviously no interviewer and interjecting his own limited opinions, forces an analogy between the Bush regime and the trials of OJ. A seasoned career diplomat (and spy) Wilson merely mentions, "Well. I certainly never had thought of it in that way . . ." rather than laughing out loud and calling it LA foolish.
Recommended as an initial if superficial piece which touches many of the bases in a fairly crude way, using mainly broadcast news material, university lectures and some man-in-the-street stuff which is not informative. Nevertheless it is truly wonderful to see and to hear once more the great American prophet and Roman Catholic Priest, the Reverend Father Daniel Berrigan, now about 87 years of age and still strong, and wise and more alert than the majority of us to the banal evil our government does in our name and with our money. Please on this fortieth anniversary revisit his The trial of the Catonsville Nine. As they say in Latin, there is nothing new under the sun.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great history lesson, October 26, 2007
Solid information very passionately delivered. Molly Ivins calls it like it is, and it is great to be reminded of the wisdom of George McGovern. The 45 minute interview with Joe Wilson was incredibly informative -- he was able to expand on events involving the Valerie Plame outing that he normally only gets 3 or 4 minutes on talk shows to explain.
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