Word: wars
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Nobody goes to Iraq-war movies. Four or five years ago, at the height of the insurgency, that was because there were no Iraq-war movies. (Vietnam, while it raged, suffered the same Hollywood blackout.) But even when some directors grew a spine and attempted to dramatize the effects of the American adventure on its soldiers (In the Valley of Elah) and civilians (Lions for Lambs) or on U.S. foreign policy (Rendition), the response was tepid. No Middle East war film has earned even $50 million at the domestic box office, and the one that came closest, The Kingdom...
...true: you'll have to sit through all the end credits to read that this is a work of fiction. But that it is should be obvious from the middle of Green Zone on, when Miller starts proving that only one good man is needed to corral war criminals of every stripe. He'll be Bourne plus Philip Marlowe plus Seymour Hersh - provided he makes it out alive. The movie, in other words, is made up; Chandrasekaran's book has as much to do with Green Zone as a history of Las Vegas does with The Hangover...
...heart of obfuscation in the early occupation of Iraq. Besides, in movies, entertainment trumps ethics. Green Zone has a fullness of character, a density of detail, a cunning mystery plot and so much stuff blowing up that audiences might not realize they're seeing an Iraq-war film. They'll be too scared stiff enjoying themselves...
Rather than pursuing President Obama's strategy of building while destroying, the U.S. and its allies should do what was done successfully with World War II: destroy the enemy's warmaking capabilities, then help rebuild the country while maintaining a military presence to ensure that it doesn't make war again. It worked with Germany and Japan. Why not in Afghanistan...
...that killed 38. U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated Iraqis for voting "with enthusiasm and optimism." But running elections is one thing; running Iraq is another. The general election of 2005 empowered ethnic and sectarian leaders who proved incapable of compromise and took the country to the brink of civil war. The surge of U.S. troops in 2007 bought just enough security and time to give democracy one more shot. Superficially, Iraqi politicians appear to have learned the lesson. The major parties have joined broad "national unity" coalitions. But the leadership is the same, as are the problems: how to share...