Over the summer, my hometown newspaper ran an article about the lack of evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The report that Bush’s constant message of Saddam Hussein’s threat to the U.S. and the world was essentially fabricated outraged me, but I was more upset by the story’s placement. The article occupied only about one-fourth of the page horizontally, and was overshadowed by a large picture from the Kentucky Derby. Our president sends thousands of American sons and daughters into danger on the basis of a lie, and our newspaper was more concerned with a horse.
Such is the outrage that inspired Uncovered: the Whole Truth About the Iraq War, a documentary film directed by Robert Greenwald that details “how truth became the first American casualty in Iraq.” Greenwald started the project based on a feeling of “pure, unadulterated rage” reading about the absence of any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the Bush administration’s consequent changes in its arguments for going to war.
Despite his own anger about being lied to by his government, Greenwald wanted to keep his personal feelings about the war to himself, so his film consists of a mix between interviews with various governmental and military experts-such as a CIA analyst, former assistant Secretary of Defense, and former weapons inspector-and legitimate internal government interviews with Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, and others.
Much of the interviews merely conveyed what has already been widely reporte-that the Bush administration had insufficient intelligence of Iraq’s supposed threat to U.S. security-but one expert made the important distinction that indeterminate intelligence can be enough to keep a country out of war, but never to instigate war.
President Bush did his best to present the case that delay in ousting Hussein would result in destruction, while the war’s opponents, including UN Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix, argued that delay (more time for inspection) could bring about peaceful resolution.
Many of those interviewed saw Bush’s case for war as an exploitation of the public’s fear of nuclear power and terrorism in the wake of Sept. 11, and argued that the war had nothing to do with terrorism; Hussein had completely different views than the terrorists and would never give up dictatorial control to potential terrorist allies.
Although Uncovered certainly presented a more convincing and detailed case on the underreported story of the absence of WMD in Iraq and the White House’s misrepresentation of intelligence on Iraq, it was not particularly more moving or compelling than the basic reports on the above.
Uncovered was not a commercially released film, but was promoted on DVD by moveon.org, a large network of politically oriented liberals that promotes “democracy in action,” and was screened at independent movie theaters (Visions in Dupont Circle in D.C.) and private homes across the country. Consequently, it had an unfortunate aspect of “preaching to the converted,”undoubtedly the vast majority of those at the screenings opposed the Iraq war to begin with and was moderately well informed of the failure of the White House’s arguments in favor of the war.
Uncovered: the Whole Truth About the Iraq War concluded with an appropriate discussion of patriotism and the Bush administration’s irresponsible claims of the “anti-Americanism” of war dissenters. One former government employee quoted Mark Twain: “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and the government when it deserves it.” Though Uncovered may not have been all that effective in spreading anti-war sentiment to the unconverted, it is by all means a most patriotic film.
The DVD of Uncovered can be purchased online at www.truthuncovered.com.
