My Country, My Country (Iraq) PBS Tonight

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Is it possible to conduct democratic elections in a war zone? Can a foreign military force bring Western-style democracy to the Muslim world? For U.S. military and diplomatic planners in Iraq, the answer to both questions has been a resolute "yes." For Iraqis, these contradictions have led to tragic consequences as political uncertainty and mounting violence continue to dominate daily life more than three years after the U.S. invasion.

The state of democracy, both Iraq's and the United States', is the focus of Laura Poitras's new documentary, "My Country, My Country," an unforgettable journey into the heart of war-ravaged Iraq in the months leading up to the January 2005 elections. Symbolized by fingers marked with purple ink, the 2005 elections posed challenges to all sides of the debate about the war. Despite death threats from terrorists, voter turnout in Iraq was higher than in the U.S., and in spite of claims that the elections were an Iraqi process, U.S. military planners oversaw most aspects of them.

Working and traveling alone in Iraq during a time when few Western journalists ventured from their compounds and bodyguards, filmmaker Laura Poitras captures the war and the elections from the inside. Her protagonist is Dr. Riyadh (last name withheld for security reasons), an Iraqi doctor, father of six, devout Sunni Muslim, and political candidate in Iraq's largest Sunni political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party. An outspoken critic of the U.S. occupation, he is equally passionate about building democracy in Iraq.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/mycountry/about.html






Knowledge is Power

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. I don't think I can watch this very much longer

what have we done? :cry:

[Bigmack]

2. Me, too...

I hate it when people make "me too" posts... but....

I felt that same thing. With one small change.

What have they done?

I was one of the 32% of Americans who opposed this war from the beginning, because I've read enough about war and seen enough war myself to know this would end in a fucking disaster.

The good doctor is just one of the thousands... shit... hundreds of thousands.... of tragic figures in this mess.

I couldn't finish watching, but I lasted longer than my wife. She cried and went to bed.