On General Sanchez, Al Gore, Gen "Q," and Unjust Wars

Lt. General Ricardo S. Sanchez, an Iraqi War insider if there ever was one, tells us the quagmire in Iraq is a "nightmare," and it makes the front page of Saturday's New York Times. Here, the message is hardly a revelation, but the messenger is.

Meanwhile, the man who won the popular vote for president in 2000 wins a Nobel Prize for giving us an overdue warning on what seems to be happening to the planet we all share, and at a much quicker rate than previously anticipated.

Global warming aside, hearing of this honor, and confronting our current environment, don't we all wish a bit more fervently that this high office had not been snatched away from Al Gore, and instead handed to someone who's probably done more to hurt the credibility and prestige of the United States than any president in our country's history?

I don't think we'd be bogged down in Iraq if Mr. Gore, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, had been elected, do you?

Being a modern politician as well as environmental advocate, Mr. Gore also saw the potential impact of his film (An Inconvenient Truth) to advance a message and a cause-one we can adopt, individually and collectively, in approaching (or even assaulting) our own political representatives. When the courageous General Sanchez went public in the Times with his own scathing assessment of the Iraq conflict, he was pretty much doing the same thing, just using a different medium. I'll bet you 10 bucks he's off the Bush Christmas card list.

Back when "W" was first elected, I had this primal feeling of witnessing a car crash in slow motion. That sensation only grew as I saw our nation edging toward full-scale war in Iraq in the wake of 9/11.

Is that where Osama bin Laden is really hiding and operating, I wondered with a certain degree of skepticism? Well, regardless, it is confirmed that Saddam has all those lethal WMDs he can either provide to the terrorists, or simply use on us. Next thing you know we're in Baghdad blowing up stuff, but where precisely are those pesky weapons we were hearing about? Oops. You could not make this up if you tried.

Then I knew the informed mutterings I'd heard were true. I'd even sensed it myself from the start: It is Vietnam, all over again.

Even before General Sanchez went public with his perspective on Saturday, my mind had already ventured back to the student militancy I recall from those far-off Vietnam protest days, when the anger about the horrific quagmire in Indochina was channeled into an electric form of activism that catalyzed Americans -- young and old -- to exercise their constitutional freedoms and make their voices heard.

I pondered where that sense of outrage is keeping itself today. I know I've seen protesters, but to my jaundiced eye, it feels nothing like the '60s and '70s.

Then, like déjà vu, I happened to catch Thomas Friedman's incisive Times column last week on what he's dubbed "Generation Q". Basically, these are our kids -- or grand-kids -- many of whom seem to be redirecting themselves and their priorities inward, both due to the transforming force of technology, and the pressure-cooker competitiveness of today's academic and workplace environments.

In other words, who even has the time to march in 2007?

Mr. Friedman's primary argument was that regardless of prevailing trends and conditions, this next generation should somehow make the time to be more active and vocal, since practically speaking, they stand to inherit this mess of a world we're bequeathing them. Of course, he's correct. (And we elders should pitch in too).

General Sanchez, Al Gore, and "Gen Q": what do they have in common beyond being today's news? These first two men are each sending out critical messages, intrinsically more relevant to these young, smart but increasingly internalized Americans than to their aging forebears. "Q" must come to stand for "quest" rather than "quiet".

In this impassioned, somewhat nostalgic frame of mind, I wanted to pass on some outstanding films, both narrative and documentary, that portray the appalling waste and tragedy of what we'll call "the unjust wars," starting with Vietnam and ending in Iraq:

In The Year Of The Pig (1968) -- Emile de Antonio's excoriating documentary is a revealing history lesson that goes back to French colonial rule in Indochina. It relates how in the mid-'40s, a diminutive Marxist named Ho Chi Minh gradually became a national hero, beloved by most of his country -- North and South. Perhaps most memorably, Year captures the "arrogance of power" our top national leaders projected, with the windy Hubert Humphrey showing his political cunning by exclaiming that "it is hard to win the peace' (with the emphasis on "win"). Meanwhile, we watch Tricky Dick, the old Cold Warrior and gifted globalist, patiently explain why it would be bad for America to let Indochina go Communist, as if speaking to a bunch of high school kids. Then we behold the incumbent LBJ, who just looks drawn and defeated (a bit like fellow Texan "W"), and adopts a consistently defensive posture (a bit like fellow Texan "W"). Get this paraphrase of a defiant LBJ non-sequitur: "You all don't have it so bad, do you?" In other words, leave me alone.

Hearts and Minds (1974) -- Peter Davis's acclaimed doc places us at the very heart of the Vietnam conflict, depicting the toll in lives, while examining how the first "television war" was portrayed in our living rooms. Interviews with veterans, family members, policymakers, and military brass are all part of the film's careful dissection of our nation's collective conscience in the early-mid 1970s. Davis intercuts newsreel footage of the war's horrific impact with the ill-informed or misleading comments of its official supporters in the Pentagon and Congress. A devastating chronicle of a still-healing national wound, Hearts and Minds remains a powerful, intense cautionary tale for any era, and particularly this one.

Coming Home (1978) -- The late director Hal Ashby's triumph, overshadowed somewhat by the more heralded Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter (which came out the same year and won the Best Picture Oscar), is on its face a tender love story, but more important, it's an original, highly emotional take on the human price of a war that nobody really understands. Jane Fonda plays Sally, a Veterans' hospital volunteer, whose husband Bob (Bruce Dern) is in Vietnam. At the hospital, she befriends Luke (Jon Voight), a paraplegic as a result of the same war. Luke gradually overcomes his bitterness through his relationship with Sally, which evolves into a love affair. When Bob returns from overseas, he, Sally and Luke have a lot to sort through. Even as they fight for the same woman, the conflict between the two men also concerns the wrenching process of each man coming to terms with their respective war experiences. (Understandably, Luke is a bit farther along on this emotional journey). This riveting film is propelled by top-notch performances from the three fabulous leads, all of whom were Oscar-nominated (Voight and Fonda won, for Best Actor and Actress).

No Man's Land (2001) - After a blistering field-artillery salvo, two soldiers -- Bosnian Chiki and Serb Nino -- find themselves marooned in a trench together while another combatant lies atop a land mine that, if moved, will blow them to bits. Meanwhile, British journalist Jane Livingstone (Katrin Cartlidge) and U.N. peacekeepers observe their harrowing plight from a distance. This dark, satiric Serbo-Croatian film deservedly won the 2001 Best Foreign Film Oscar. Built around the tense standoff between Chiki and Nino, we view their bizarre predicament not just as two enemies who ironically must help each other survive, but also through the eyes of impotent U.N. representatives, and, of course, the omnipresent media. By turns bleak, frightening, and funny, No Man's Land is an ingenious piece of cinema, as it delivers yet another new and original slant on war's innate futility.

Turtles Can Fly (2004)- Set in a Kurdish refugee camp on the Iraqi-Turkish border just weeks before the 2003 U.S. invasion, this jaw-dropping story trails Satellite, a bossy, tech-obsessed 13-year-old who leads a motley gang of children and sets up TV reception for local villages anxiously awaiting news of the imminent war. Smitten by an orphaned girl newly arrived from Halabja, Satellite tries to help her, but his efforts are hampered by her protective brother, an armless land-mine survivor who supposedly can predict the future. Few films can match the dazzling visuals and heart-wrenching storyline of this unforgettable drama, which spins a tender, engrossing tale about the costs of war from the perspective of three Kurdish children. Harsh yet compassionate, Turtles is filled with potent, resonant images -- among them, a blind toddler seated in a mine field, and a maimed child expertly defusing a mine with his teeth. Don't miss this beautiful, disturbing, hypnotic work.

My Country, My Country (2005) - This intimate doc takes us into the home of Dr. Riyadh, a Baghdad-based physician and city-council member, in the volatile run-up to the historic elections of January 2005. As he travels from his free clinic to inspections at Abu Ghraib and beyond, we get a rare glimpse of the day-to-day experiences of average Iraqis, the hardships they endure, and the heartbreaking polarities that divide Sunni and Shia, Arab and Kurd. This bird's-eye view film tracks the reality of the occupation from the vantage point of a man who, despite his cynicism about the post-Saddam puppet government, tries to convince his fellow Sunnis (once a ruling-class minority) to participate in the elections. Even in the face of bombings, political turmoil, and the certainty of diminishing returns at the polling booth, Riyadh retains his sense of dignity and hope. See this to experience the evolving contours of the war in Iraq.

Road to Guantanamo (2006) - In late September 2001, young Brit Asif Iqbal traveled with friends Shafiq and Ruhel to Karachi, where he planned to get married. This film revisits how the "Tipton Three," as they came to be known, wound up in nearby Afghanistan, were eventually captured by the Northern Alliance and taken by American forces to Guantanamo Bay. There they were held without charges for two years under suspicion of being Al-Qaeda operatives. This jarring docudrama combines interviews, news footage, and fervid re-enactments to tell the harrowing true story of three British men of Pakistani descent who found themselves detained and brutalized by their Afghan (and later, American) captors in our post-9/11 campaign against the Taliban. Amazingly, Asif, Shafiq, and Ruhel tell their story without a trace of malice, a miracle considering the deprivations they endured. Without doubt, Guantanamo should be required viewing for anyone concerned about respect for the Geneva Conventions -- and basic civil rights.

 

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Comments

[Harrier]

Sanchez is a girlie man. If he was a man on any level, he would have resigned stating that he disagreed like some of the true men before him.

Unfortunately, I really don't care what people like him who when the were employed said nothing and now speak out only after they served their purpose.

I can promise you this, if he was still there, he would not be speaking out now. This jack ass has not seen a sign day of combat in his life. Never been shot at or seem a single day of personal danger ever.

Ghraib
Sanchez was commander of coalition forces during the period when abuse of prisoners occurred at Abu Ghraib and at other locations. On May 5, 2006 Sanchez denied ever authorizing interrogators to "go to the outer limits". Sanchez said he had told interrogators: "...we should be conducting our interrogations to the limits of our authority." Sanchez called the ACLU: "...a bunch of sensationalist liars, I mean lawyers, that will distort any and all information that they get to draw attention to their positions

Will the Real Ricardo S. Sanchez stand up. Does he not remember the public has not forgotten what he said to save his own butt. Does he actually agree with the ACLU

[baaab]

John,

As a junior at one of the most liberal communications colleges in the nation, who recently took a course on social movements in which this subject was directly addressed, I think I can account for my generation's relative lack of enthusiasm for activism: we feel distanced. While the vast majority of us are passionately vocal about (against) the war, with no draft, there's no sense of a personal threat. Those who do protest, in my view, fit into two categories:

1) those who enjoy it as a social activity, akin to moviegoing only cheaper and more active;

2) those with personal connections, i.e. friends or family in contact.

Since a close my friend of mine is thinking of becoming a military pilot, I may soon fall into category 2; but I still can't imagine thinking I could accomplish anything via protest. I feel it'd take something as momentous as a draft to generate meaningful, persuasive protest.

On the subject of recent war-themed movies, I'm a fan of Bruno Dumont's Flanders, which uses a quasi-love triangle to render the demands of war truly unfathomable.

[DocManhattan]

Don't you think that if Sanchez had really been that courageous, he would've spoken out against the war while he was still in a position of authority?

Instead, he spent all that time blowing sunshine up the administration's ass, and feeding the general public pure BS. When challenged as to shy he didn't speak out, then he said something about there being nothing worse than a General in the field speaking out against his commander-in-chief.

Well, I can think of a few things.

He would have served his country and his troops better if he'd told the truth, and faced the consequences. He should have known when it's time to stop acting like a soldier, and start acting like a man.

[horangi]

John, your originality is truly refreshing. Nice to find someone who is not slavishly devoted to the hit movie of the week, someone who is capable of bringing a historical context with which to judge films by. Keep it up. I love it.
Horangi

[Gridley]

I enjoyed your thoughts on the administration and of General Sanchez. I have seen two of the 5 movies that you have recommended. I am looking forward to watching the other three.

I can think of one movie that didn't make your list that might deserve consideration for it. One of my favorite lines in cinema is delivered in Thee Days of the Condor when Cliff Robertson, a CIA operative asks his superior, Wabash, if he "missed the action" referring to the old days. Wabash, played by John Houseman replies with a delivery that only Houseman could have provided, shaking his head and looking a bit disgusted, he said, "I miss the clarity". It is not this movie that I think should be included but one that in my mind speaks to the issue of clarity; and more importantly, the lack of clarity that is inherent in fighting a war. Fog of War, an Errol Morris documentary exclusively features Robert Macnamara, holding forth on his experiences serving the country as the Secretary of Defense under the Kennedy and then the Johnson administrations. I have no doubt that people of different political persuasions would leave this movie feeling very different things about the movie and of Mr. Macnamara. But what I felt leaving the theater was not only very ambiguous feelings about Macnamra, but the sense that while Macnamara had regrets about some of the decisions that he had made during his tenure as Secretary of State, they probably would have made the same decisions all over again given the circumstances of knowing what they knew at the time. That is to say that even though the clarity that comes with hindsight showed that they bungled so much having to do with the Vietnam War, the choices that they made at the time were sound based on what they knew at the time about the world, the forces of communism and the limitations of American military influence.

[JerryColana]

A Prussian strategist once said that "war is the organizing principle for any society". Aside from the daily horror that we read, see and hear about in Iraq, defense contractors, big oil and other groups have been a large part of the discussion. "Hidden Agenda", a film by the great director, Ken Loach, with a great cast and story (1990) takes us to the British/IRA front of yesteryear. On August 1, of this past year '07 it was announced that the RIR (Royal Irish Regime)would be disbanded in response to the laying down of arms by the IRA (Irish Republican Army). Where that situation stands now, i'm not ceratain, but to end all wars should be the goal.

[redeye8]

What I think is most interesting about the period we're living in, with regard to film, is that this is the first time we've seen both documentaries and feature films in wide theatrical release while the war in question is still underway. With the advent of mini DV, too, it is much easier for solitary, intrepid filmmakers--like Oscar nominee James Longley of "Iraq in Fragments" fame--to cross into the war zone and really capture what's happening on the ground, without the restrictions imposed on "embedded" reporters. And now Brian De Palma's docudrama "Redacted" is on the way, revisiting a shameful criminal episode in our recent military dealings with everyday Iraqis, perpetrated by some rogue marines. It's really unprecedented. I bet we'll see a documentary on Blackwater before long.

[gtilghman]

Well, it's a little different kind of war movie we're talking about here. Never seen this kind, only the dramatic films and TV coverage of course. The first time I encountered what this blogger is talking about was when I was a kid watching our soldiers in Vietnam smoking dope through the barrel of a gun. It was the 7:00 news with Walter Cronkite. As a kid, that changed the feeling about what war was. I didn't understand it.

[sdcrater1]

Insightful commentary mixed with provocative movie suggestions. Bring on more John Farr.

[cdwmore]

Seems like we are witnessing another car crash in slow motion with all the rumblings about preparations for war in Iran. As much as I'd prefer not to watch movies about war, maybe I should educate myself in preparation for the possibility of 10 to 20 more years of war in the middle east.

[coolsilverfoxx]

Thanks, Mr. Farr for once again bringing a slightly different light to the subject.

War pictures? I'd say the most devastating and visceral presentation, both of the grandness of war as well as its'countless string of small tragedies, would be "Gentlemen Prefer Blonds", followed closely by "The Women".

While more recent digitally infused battle scenes (such as the beach landing scene at the start of "Saving Private Ryan" or the riviting street-battles in "Children Of Men") certainly pack their punch, nothing compares to the horror, the gallons of stage blood (and nail polish) , the slash & cut hand-to-hand combat portrayed by Lauren Bacall, Jane Russell and Marylin Monroe in "Blondes".

Do you agree? I'd value your view on this.