Dirty Wars

bleeding heart · January 17, 2014

A way-better-than-average political documentary.

Investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, reporting on the murder of some Afghan civilians and the ensuing (rather grotesque) coverup, begins discovering things about JSOC (Joint special Operations Command). This was well before they became publically recognized...indeed, they were quite unknownto most of the public at the time, being in effect a paramilitary force answering directly to the White House, and with relatively far-reaching authorizations to act as they deem fit, anywhere in the world.

His investigations into America's use of JSOC, drone strikes, kill lists etc lead him to Yemen, where a US killing of several civilians occurred (and for which the Yemeni government took the blame); and finally to Somalia, in which civilians cower from both Al-Queda and affiliated foreign terrorists...and the brutal, US-backed warlords.

Key to the film are the interviews he has with a JSOC insider, a former operative, and Anwar al-Awlaki's father, in a couple of surprisingly touching exchanges. (Awlaki's father is no radical...nor, so it seems, was Awlaki's sixteen year old son, also killed in a drone strike.)

A very decent documentary, harrowing and occasionally eye-opening.

The_Squid · January 18, 2014

Thanks for the recommendation.

overthere · January 18, 2014

Investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, reporting on the murder of some Afghan civilians and the ensuing (rather grotesque) coverup, begins discovering things about JSOC (Joint special Operations Command). This was well before they became publically recognized...indeed, they were quite unknownto most of the public at the time, being in effect a paramilitary force answering directly to the White House, and with relatively far-reaching authorizations to act as they deem fit, anywhere in the world.

Maybe they were unknown to Scahill, but JSOC was far from a secret.

Richard Connaughton(one example) wrote of JSOC and ISAF command clashes in his 2008 book Modern Warfare, about events in Helmand province and Afghanistan in general in 2005/20o6 where ISAF and JSOC worked independently, to a mutual lack of positive outcomes on the battlefield.

Thanks for the recommendation I will watch for it.

irecommended it elsewhere here but if you like political documetaries The Gatekeeprs is pretty astonishing. It's a view of Israeli/Palestinian relations as seen by the last 6 directors of Shin Bet, Israeli domestic security force. Not at all what I expected.

I just got a notice from Netflix that they have The Square available,a new Oscar nominated doco about events in Egypt, Arab spring. Might be worth a look.

bleeding heart · January 18, 2014

You're of course right about JSOC. I only meant they hadn't entered the public consciousness in a serious way (unlike their discrete parts, of whom everybody knew) until after the bin Laden assassination. Especially since they've been around since the Iran Hostage Crisis...and especially since the Government has plainly not been too keen on advertising their reach. Why Obama decided to go the other way on the de facto secrecy is itself an interesting question.

Hell, in the film, when a reporter asked the White House Press Secretary about JSOC's night raids and killings in undeclared war zones....the Press Sec. mocked it as a "conspiracy theory." Now, it's openly conceded.

And yeah, I've heard great things about The Gatekeepers, and will definitely check it out.

overthere · January 18, 2014

especially since the Government has plainly not been too keen on advertising their reach

Every so often though the main stream media gives a little clue.

They'll talk about a dustup in some very remote spot like Congo, Somalia, Colombia,Yemen, Lebanon et al.

A few months later, the presence of 'covert operations' will leak out, very likely that a very few Rangers, SEals or SAS was there all along. Watching from under cover, maybe acting once a in while.....