America’s Dirty Lies

There is a very interesting similarity between international events and the game of pool. One usually cannot know how the motion of a pool ball will end, just as one cannot know how international development would influence another one.

America did not know that the Mujahideens who they supported during the Russian occupation of Afghanistan would become their enemies. Many Americans were surprised when the September 11th attacks turned out to be carried out by such men, who were supported and aided by America, both in reality and the third Rambo movie.

American government declared war against al-Qaida, the masterminds of the attack, and Iraq, which was accused by America of possessing weapons of mass destruction. Green Zone, a movie directed by Paul Greengrass, concerns the quest for the truth by a chief warrant officer, Roy Miller (Matt Damon), who is the leader of one of the teams searching for these weapons. Miller and his team act according to the provided intelligence and come up empty-handed in all operations. The thing that causes Miller’s suspicion is that all intelligence sources are anonymous.

Meanwhile one of the senior U.S. officials, Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear), left unanswered questions posed by Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan), a Wall Street Journal reporter in Iraq, about WMDs. Poundstone also avoids Dayne’s question about the identity of the Iraqi senior official, code named Magellan, who provided intelligence to the United States before the occupation.

One day, Miller and his team raid a house based on the information of an Iraqi who introduces himself as Freddie (Khalid Abdalla). They failed to capture one of the senior officials of Saddam Hussein, al-Ravi (Yigar Naor), at the last second but they arrested someone else who was with Ravi. After this point, the situation becomes very different than what Miller expected. Miller finds out the lies which were told his people and becomes torn between CIA and the Pentagon while being viewed as a threat by Poundstone.

As the twosome of Greengrass and Damon, which captivated all audiences with the Bourne Series, come together again. They portray the pursuit of the truth regarding lies that were told to the American people. While the unfair American occupation was slightly touched on in the film, which has chase and fight scenes that remind us of Bourne movies, Greengrass also tries to justify their existence in the region through the words of Freddie, “I want most your existence in my country,” and “You don’t know what they did to this country,” referring to Saddam Hussein and his aides.*

Greenzone tells how leaders deceive people and do whatever they want. Given the fact that the film will reach a wide audience, the thought that the reality in Iraq will reach people who are unaware of the matter gives hope to those affected by the war.

There are very interesting impacts occurring in international affairs. When you think about them, these impacts are amazing. Just think about it . . . who would have known that the influence of the conflicts between the U.K. and France for Corsica Island would have led America to proclaim independence and France to undergo a revolution?

*Editor’s Note: The quotes from the movie “Green Zone” could not be verified.