Veteran journalist John Pilger's new documentary provides an important foundation to understanding how the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began and why they have devolved into catastrophic endeavors that have fallen terribly short of their initial goals. Bringing his camera to both battle-scarred Afghanistan and combative Washington, Pilger discovers in the former that the post-Taliban sociopolitical makeup has shattered into a maze of warring factions where various fundamentalist outfits, including remnants of the deposed regime, are in a continual state of war, and the opium trade has returned with a vengeance (but democracy has yet to flower, with women, in particular, failing to experience the joys of liberation, thanks to an acute lack of healthcare and education, as well as the continued threat of arrest under Taliban-era laws). Aggravating the efforts are, ironically, the U.S.-led forces: the mission to bring peace to Afghanistan has taken a ghastly, conspicuously underreported, toll on civilians (an estimated 3,000 Afghans were bombed to death by U.S. weapons). Not that any of this matters in Washington, where Pilger's cameras record several lower-echelon Bush administration officials and William Kristol of The Weekly Standard, all standard bearers of a neoconservative administration that has become hopelessly smug and arrogant (one Bush official, unaware the camera is still on, concludes an interview by sneering at Pilger and asking if he is a Communist). And as for Iraq, well, Pilger's coverage is--of course--a bit dated, given the almost daily developments there. Breaking the Silence will probably not sway anyone hypnotized by the White House's propaganda machine, but it should be required viewing for those who are increasingly concerned about the lack of results in the war on terror. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Hall)
Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War on Terror
(2003) 52 min. VHS: $250. Bullfrog Films. PPR. Color cover. ISBN: 1-59458-025-1. Volume 19, Issue 4
Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War on Terror
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