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| A scene from Dirty Wars. |
By John Esther
Director Richard Rowley’s superb and solemn documentary does not paint a pretty picture of U.S. foreign policy under the Obama administration.
The Dirty Wars narrative, sort of, starts one night after a U.S. raid results in the deaths of innocent Afghani men, women and children. U.S. sources give one side of the story. Those present, like family members of the victims, give another.
There to uncover what happened before and during the tragedy is journalist Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army). Not one to be embedded, Schahill’s thorough investigation ultimately leads to the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
Essentially, a powerful, U.S. covert and secret organization (although not so secret after killing Osama bin Laden), JSOC’s mission is to “find, fix and finish” anything and anyone deemed its target, even if the target is a United States citizen – two of which are actually killed during Scahill’s investigation during the documentary. Why or when something or someone becomes a target is unknown yet JSOC, AKA “American Taliban with big muscles and beards,” continues to grow, without any congressional oversight.
And what is the result? As we have recently learned, there have been more assassinations, drone killings, etc., and granted, it is not like the Obama administration is doing anything new with regard to America’s so-called “War on Terror.” But the Noble Peace Prize Winner was supposed to be less belligerent president than his predecessor.
Winner of the Sundance Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary, Dirty Wars is the kind of documentary that demands serious attention and even a more serious response from Americans.
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