Voices of Iraq
You have heard all the discussions, rhetoric, arguements, etc., etc., of what has been going on in the country of Iraq. With all of the media spin, and the ongoing Presidential election, the main mission for going into Iraq has been lost in the shuffle. Until now, that is. Today’s Family First site takes a look at the VOICES OF IRAQ.
VOICES OF IRAQ offers a unique opportunity to hear the diverse perspective of Iraqis on issues at the forefront of a global debate over war, terror and the prospects for democratic reform – directly from the street. VOICES OF IRAQ is a ground-breaking documentary that does what no other film or news organization has done before. The producers of VOICES OF IRAQ distributed over 150 DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERAS across the entire country to enable everyday people – mothers, children, teachers, sheiks and even insurgents – to document their lives and their hopes amidst the upheaval of a nation being born. Beginning amidst the Falluja uprising in April, going through the marshlands in the South, the Kurdish communities in the North and ending in September of this year, thousands of ordinary Iraqis became filmmakers to reveal the richness, complexity and emotion of their lives. VOICES OF IRAQ is an unprecedented film. This new documentary genre offers a unique window into what is happening in Iraq. VOICES OF IRAQ has allowed Iraqis to tell their own story.
This is an important site and film to see. Here you will see the truth of what is going on in this part of the world, as seen and felt by the people that live there. Experience for a few minutes what they experience day in and day out. This is an experience not to be forgotten or taken lightly.
While this film provides some important information that should be bourne in mind by people considering the situation in Iraq (i.e. the brutality of the Ba’athist regime) the “documentary” is very shortsighted. Whether this is due to skewed editing or because the only people who would get paid to cooperate with a former marine film maker were people who were prepared to put a rosey view on things (or maybe because they are middle-to-upper class professionals whose lives genuiely are better now that there is an emerging middle-class) the fact is this film falls very short of exposing the full picture. My advice: do not take this movie seriously. At best it’s a bad documentary at worst it’s CIA backed propaganda.
This film should be seen by every person in the world. A good history lesson as well as news story. It will probably give you a very different impression of the situation in Iraq than you currently have. (It did for me.) It is inspiring on a very human level. For many of these people, this is the first time in their lives they’ve been able to express themselves without fear, and you can tell by the smiles on their faces.
i’ve spent quite a bit of time researching this film. I’ve learned that it was promoted as a fair and balanced look at iraq but was financed by right-wing organizations. (‘Right-wing’ to you, the reader, may mean holier-than-thou, but to me has grown to mean tax-cuts to the rich, and poor economic decisions that lead to poor social situations. ever wonder why abortion rates have only gone up under bush and went down under clinton? the economy is that reason.)
Talk of this film has filled forums and blogs. The subject of those discussions has consistantly been the editing of 400 hours of film footage to create a 79-minute, right-wing editorial that was quickly released as to help Bush’s outcome in the election. The best review I’ve read, which is definately fair and unbalanced, can be found here:
http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/inside.php?sid=4199
My biggest concern for this war is that our occupation is creating terrorists. Talk radio hosts and certain media outlets give a ‘rosy-glasses’ outlook on the war, however information that i’ve read from those who’ve visited Iraq show a very different picture. Also, video clips from cities throughout europe show Iraqi families worried about their fathers and sons and wondering why they’re in prison (we take over 100 iraqi prisoners per day). This, to me, does not prevent terrorism, it creates terrorism.
familyfirst.com would undoubtedly suggest that you not take your children to this movie because there are home videos of sadam’s sons’ practices of torture. This torture is used to strengthen and dumb-down the debate making it a ‘sadam’s evil’ vs ‘US Occupancy’s good.’
I’m not denying that many EVENTUAL outcomes of this war will be good. Everyone agrees that Sadam was evil. I simply want to see and be re-assured that our actions will not create new terrorists. Creating more terrorists = bad.
The Iraqi woman crying and cursing Americans in F911 saying, “may god take american’s houses, may god kill the americans,” will probably not support US actions. The basic principles upon which polling and sampling rest suggest that there are thousands more like her. Are they likely to finance terrorists because of our actions? Are they likely to become terrorists because of our actions? These are my concerns, not pitching and selling me on the idea of the Iraqi war being good, something this film tries very hard to do.
Now, if Bush wants to help free people of tyranny, which is now the reason for the war, we should focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo, which some say is the worst humanitarian situation on the planet. I guess the 3.3 million people who have died in Congo since 1998 � to say nothing of the horror stories of macheted infants, incinerated villages and soldiers cannibalizing their victims � are not enough to justify a second muscular application of the Bush human rights doctrine. Why? Because you’re not going to find much oil in Congo.
Action adventure about Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, encrypted messages from the Old Testament, a doomsday nuclear bomb and a gay hero.
I would like to know where I can find the songs that came out in this film. There is one in particular I am looking for and although it’s sung in Arabic the translation in English is ” Mt soul is in Tikrit, crying for our dead praise to the people of Falluja Abu Ghraib is calling God asking where is democracy” I cannot find it anywhere and would love to purchase it. Can anyone help