Parties in Kabul

The guards partied right inside the American Embassy in Afghanistan

“Searching for an enemy – that is what occupies our propaganda after World War II,” these words came from one of the most respected American directors, Oliver Stone, in one of his latest interviews during an introduction to his new film about Hugo Chavez at a film festival in Venice.

The veteran of the Vietnam War, three-time Oscar winner and the writer of two movies about Fidel Castro – prohibited from distribution in the United States – is sometimes called the conscience of Hollywood. In his legendary war films “Platoon” and “Salvador,” Stone portrayed the American soldier without embellishments and described how brutally war passes through the lives of young American men, grinding their souls. In general, Stone’s movies have always stood out in the American film industry.

In the last two decades, with the beginning of the American military campaigns in the Persian Gulf, which in reality have become “the struggle for oil,” the entire enormous Hollywood machine was focused on creating an image of a brave superhero, who clears the planet of villainous mustached terrorists without fear. In the United States, filmmakers long ago figured out that it is not the written word that has the biggest emotional influence, but motion pictures, which in contrast to newspapers, make people around the world sigh and worry. They instill in those who have grown accustomed to watching, not reading, faith that the only defender of world freedom lives in the United States, and it will always rush to help those abused and oppressed.

The classic examples of such propaganda pictures showered with “Oscars” are Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” and the movie “Pearl Harbor.” They do not leave the viewer a chance to understand that the Second World War was won and the world was saved not by American military men, but by the Soviet soldiers. The American warrior is presented to the world as a brave man, who lends his hand to those in need; he is the beacon of good and the enemy of evil. He is morally irreproachable and only sometimes allows himself to relax with a glass of whiskey or with a woman he loves.

Unfortunately, those who were forced to deal with the American contractors saw before themselves the antipode of those brave screen warriors. In the beginning of the second campaign in Iraq, some media outlets printed humorous stories about frightened young Yankees, who found themselves miles away from home, dreaming of a can of Coke and a real roll of toilet paper. But who, if not these guys, became the punishers in the Iraqi prison, Abu Ghraib? Who, if not them, mercilessly pushed the trigger?

The abuses in Abu Ghraib, which became public thanks to a leak from the soldiers themselves, shock me not just by their sophistication and merciless naturalism. What is truly shocking is the anarchy, the permissive behavior, and the freedom with which the guards used the camera (based on the principle: we are not scared of anyone or anything), and with which the American contractors, of both genders, mocked and tortured the imprisoned souls and forced them upon one other.

The world witnessed not only torture. The world started to understand that the intellect of this Yankee-warrior, developed watching Hollywood’s “masterpieces,” instead of books, goes no further than a bottle of Coke, the thirst quencher in the “damned sands.”

If only this was a single case… As soon as the recollections of the Iraqi prison horror calmed down, new photo-masterpieces made everyone shudder once again. The White House relocated the accent of the war on terror to Afghanistan. New photos leaked on the Internet. American contractors drank at parties, danced naked and participated in sexual orgies at Camp Sullivan, located right on the territory of the American Embassy in Afghanistan. The guards went as far as forcing their Afghani colleagues drink alcohol, dance, and consume food. And all this, during the holy month of Ramadan.

Those who were saving Private Ryan during World War II, possessed true heroism. They broke through unthinkable obstacles and despite the circumstances kept on going in order to save a son for a mother. Those who tortured the prisoners in Iraq and poured alcohol down the throats of Afghanis during the month of Ramadan, showed a completely different kind of heroism. Under the conditions of complete impunity and unlimited power, they made memorable photographs: photographs of the anti-hero, for whom the only road is the road to hell.

[Editor’s note: some quotes may be worded based on translated material].