Sunday, February 09, 2014

"Dirty Wars" is an extremely important documentary. The book even more so.

Thanks to this work by Jeremy Scahill the USA now knows about JSOC. It is a disturbing arm of the military. It answers directly to the President and basically can carry out covert operations anywhere in the world. The questions arise in the film as to the appropriate nature of JSOC. 

Jeremy's restless conscience took him to explore the truth in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen. His findings are disturbing. What is more disturbing than JSOC itself existing, is the fact those involved with these operations are willing to rationalize the deaths of innocent people and attempt to remove evidence of their deaths to hide the fact.

February 9, 2014
By Paul Steve
The Record 

...THREE OF the five Academy Award nominees (click here) for best feature-length documentary movie take viewers to distant places and troubled times....
THREE OF the five Academy Award nominees for best feature-length documentary movie take viewers to distant places and troubled times. - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/244590771_Opinion__Documentaries_on_far_and_dangerous_places.html#sthash.Mk75Z5hi.dpuf

...The third, "Dirty Wars," speaks more directly to America's current foreign policy and its role in the world — and the picture is not pretty. Longtime war correspondent Jeremy Scahill first recounts a nighttime raid by American troops in a dangerous region of Afghanistan. In the village of Gardez, in 2010, a local police official (Mohammed Daoud Sharabuddin) and two pregnant women are among the fatalities, apparently shot in cold blood.

The more Scahill asks American authorities questions about what happened in Gardez and why, the more he's rebuffed. Over the next few years he connects the dots, which outline the off-the-grid activities of the Joint Special Operations Command. This is the mostly secret network of military units that conduct the war on terror by stealth and assassination and at the command of President Obama. JSOC produced the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and it launched a drone attack that killed an American citizen turned al-Qaida leader, Anwar al-Awlaki, and his teenage son in Yemen....

This isn't really a film about al-Awlaki, but, I am sure the military would like everyone to think about it that way. It is a film about the difference in war cultures and how the USA's military is completely disconnected from reality, except for it's own. It is scary to realize the disconnect exists and regardless of the 'tea drinking' with the villagers it never brought them any closer to understanding it.

The expressions of acceptance and regret by the USA military were based in the hope the people would appreciate the gesture and their presence. The villagers on the other hand wanted to relay their reality and how the USA presence actually was destroying their lives. The two never connected, because, the USA would have to admit it was completely wrong in their raids. 

Those "Kumbaya" or "Come to Jesus" moments were never productive because there were too many complaints to bring to a meeting and the USA military believed their night raids were necessary. The Taliban moved at night, but, the raids by the USA all too frequently didn't involve Taliban so much as innocent people. The raid on the home of Mr. Sharabuddin was most revealing. The filming of this home post deaths of civilians revealed home videos of household members while American soldiers' hands were removing their bullets of the then wounded Mr. Sharabuddin.

...“There was evidence (click here) of tampering at the scene, walls being washed, bullets dug out of holes in the wall,” the NATO official said, adding that investigators “couldn’t find bullets from the wounds in the body.”...

But, that is not what is most revealing. The fact Mr. Sharabuddin was trained by our military, was proud of his role in the village as police chief and was loyal to President Karzai and the USA military was a great accomplishment. He was grateful to be a part of an organized effort to bring peace to people. Mr. Sharabuddin was a good man and hero to his village. He garnered their support. But, most importantly, he never asked for a raid on his village by the USA military. Where is the support from the villagers now?

The USA military arrogantly carried out these night raids that killed innocent people without first seeking the input of the village officials. Our military did not trust the people they trained. They didn't trust their own skills in being peacemakers and providing real opportunity for the Afghan people to establish a strong presence against harmful elements like the Taliban. The USA military determined Afghanistan was too infiltrated with Taliban that 'the innocents' could not be trusted. Yet, Mr. Sharabuddin did just fine right up to the point where he was wrongly killed.

We need to leave Afghanistan so the people there can carry out their own government and law enforcement. We dearly are not needed there and the longer we stay the worse our reputation and the more danger is created for our country.

Additionally, JSOC needs oversight. Killing any innocent person that 'maybe an enemy' or is a 'sad casualty' can't be acceptable anymore. Those deaths become a chain reaction that we can't stop. That very real aspect to the actions of JSOC is never incorporated into the military's understanding of it's role in national security. We don't need to violate our national security at the same time we are suppose to be securing it.

A bomb can't go off until the fuse is lit. That fuse in the Mideast is very long and starts with the first death of an innocent person or child. I currently believe while JSOC performs valuable and important measures to our country, it also has lit many fuses.

Mr. Scahill's work was a vitally important work and deserves this award. It would be a small token of gratitude for putting his life on the line and not abandoning the truth. Jeremy moved outside of his comfort zone to find the truth and in that revealed the lack of it in the information the USA military was and is supplying this nation. Currently, the United States military believes their own faux images of war and their role, thus creating a very dangerous world.

"Dirty Wars" may actually be the strongest reason for peace yet.