Buried in the Sand - The Deception of America

Rating:
Summary: "The Sheep may safely graze"
Review: (zero stars)

Oh my, the neo-cons are certainly having some fun with their puppets now. This is puerile filth for those who feel they need or want more reasons to hate "the enemy" or to justify their own barbarity. What they are inadvertently doing is furthering the agenda of those in power, who are rapidly bringing this country to its demise. Judging from several reviews posted here, this particular piece of propaganda has succeeded in its goal of creating a visceral reaction of hatred from showing extremely graphic images. Too many reviewers here have been duped by the right-wing media (Ann Coulter and Franklin Graham, I am looking at you) into believing Islam is an inherently violent religion. This could not less correct. The atrocities presented in this video are allegedly perpetrated by Muslims acting on behalf of Islam (though without any sort of context we cannot verify this); It does not take much intelligence to see these are bad Muslims (actually, not Muslims at all), just as there are bad Christians and bad Jews, etc. Anyone who tortures or kills cannot truly claim to practice a religion, no matter how one attempts to justify it. They might believe they are going to Heaven for what they are doing, but they would be mistaken. Just as you would be mistaken if you thought you were justified in killing Iraqis indiscriminately. Hitler purported to act on behalf of Christianity. Would anyone claim he acted on behalf of all Christians? Would you not also hate Christians if Hitler and the Nazis were your only frame of reference for Christians? People, you must be able to think critically for yourselves! You cannot simply generalize all people who follow a religion. Besides, if you hate Muslims so much, why would you risk the lives of your brothers, sons and daughters to "liberate" the people of Iraq? How far are you willing to take this? Are you willing to commit genocide against Muslims? How does that make you any better than Hitler and the Nazis? By believing that you are somehow better than the people depicted here and allowing your military to fight this immoral war, you are succumbing to ignorance, hatred and fear. This is propaganda for sheep only; those with minds of their own need not apply.


Rating:
Summary: Facts that the liberal media will not show you
Review: As ex-miltary I found what this CD had to show quite chilling, but then again what you will see on this CD are facts that Americans of all ages should view. They are an eye opener for anyone who thinks that the people in the United States have it so bad, or complain about police brutality, intrusion of their civil rights or to say the least threaten to leave America if George Bush got re-elected. Reality is reality and there is no way to hide from it. This CD for me brought this to light. I am just glad that I live in America where non of what you will view every happens and never will. Don't be afraid to view the truth. Buy it and distribute it to all that you know. You'll be amazed and understand why we have to do what we have to do. What you will see on this CD makes (...) look like a pussy cat.

Rating:
Summary: Strong stomach required
Review: Everything you've read about the awfulness of these images is true. Do not see this unless you've got a strong stomach. If you feel up to it and want to know what evil is then by all means see it. Alot has been said about what was not found in Iraq (WMD) but very little about what was found (victim's remains). It is just as important that these images be seen as the images of the WWII death camps of liberated Europe. The thing I felt was hardest to believe about all this is that the video evidence has all been recorded by the actual perpetrators!

If I may, I'd like to recommend a partner to this documentary, sort of as a double feature. It is a movie made in 1999 titled "Three Kings" starring George Clooney. It's a good action comedy about the first Iraq war of 1991. The reason I think it's worthwhile viewing in connection with this documentary is because "Three Kings" is a Hollwood satirical attack against the first Bush administration for not having gone beyond their U.N. mandate and taking down the Hussein regime. G.H.W. Bush and America in general are taken to task for abandoning the Iraqi people when the opportunity was there to alleviate their suffering. I wonder if Mr. Clooney realizes the hypocrisy of his current stance.

Rating:
Summary: Muddled at best
Review: First off, I believe in unfettered access to information. I find it disturbing that the second-rate dimwits at Fox or MS/NBC or CBS will go on the talking-head shows commenting about the things they've "seen in the newsroom" but which, for whatever reason, they have chosen to suppress from public visibility. There is a culture of complicit censorship in the West. When is the last time you've successfully used Google or Yahoo to find one of these vaunted "Islamic web sites", for instance. Can you even find non-US sites anymore?

So anything that gives us access to such information is welcome.

But this DVD isn't really it. It comes across as a Moore-rebuttal, reflecting pre-election jitteryness by the Right, a mediocre apologia for the war, and, as other reviewers have noted, a shock film. The strong point was indeed the "snuff" component, the butchering of innocent civilians. If this sort of thing got more publicity, the military would have no problem filling its quotas. Such behavior is an outrage against all decency, and one hopes that there will be a quiet and violent settling with the purveyors even after the main fighting ends.

But this also reflects the hypocrisy of the producers. Like all propagandists, they tend to be fair-weather proponents of "reality." These same people no doubt whine mightily that the press caused us to "lose" Vietnam through alarming visuals. Now they try to make a buck from the same.

Weaker in the film is the piece on the suicide bombers. Here, we suddenly go from Iraq to the West Bank. Totally different conflict, different players, different level of frustration and desperation. Oh, well, it's just an inch away on the map.

Weakest is the piece on the Army's Abu Ghraib S&M Club. The producers try to mitigate the contemptible behavior of the soldiers to videotapings by the previous management. No doubt much worse things than the Club happened at the hands of the Iraqis. But all the producers could produce was a few beatings.

This weakness in terms of material available to support the producers' premise is also revealed in the execution of a group of Kurds. It was a fairly straightforward (albeit illegal) firing squad. The application of the coup d' grace was misrepresented as an act of additional brutality.

Overall, a muddled set of messages, and a poor attempt at supporting each of the major points the producers appear to want to convey. They should have stuck to the extraordinary brutality of Hussein and Hussein's sons (the tongue removals; the amputations), the mass graves which forensic teams are still poring through, and the disgusting actions of the insurgents. Not to mention investigative reporting on the actions of the Iraqi intelligence service in other parts of the Arab world.

I think there is still an opportunity for a video $erie$ that shows the unvarnished truth, as it comes off the satellite feed, before censors in the newsrooms get their fingers on it. Let's face it, journalists are not the sharpest tools in the shed, and bowing to their sensibilities flies in the face of common sense.

Rating:
Summary: This was more of a snuff film than documentary
Review: Has political debate in this country really come to this? In order to present an argument that favors preemption and confrontation over appeasement we now need to resort to snuff films. I've read other reviews of this documentary and I'm not sure we were watching the same thing. This was 90 minutes of some vague narration and grotesque images of abuse toward the Iraqi people. We see over and over again grainy images of men being whipped in the face and on the heels of their feet; beaten in one place until the kidney fails; hands chopped off; beheadings; arms purposely broken; and a stoning. I guess if you've been asleep since September 11th, 2001, this stuff will shock you...as the narrator said over and over and over and over and over again. However, for the folks that are aware of what's going on the world it shouldn't come as a great shock that people in the "old world" can be absolutely vile to one another.

The problem I have with this documentary is that it doesn't present any arguments in any kind of context. It's a series of violent and horrific images that rival a Troma film with less of a plot line. Even Fahrenheit 9/11 had some aspect of a story to it. This was, as I stated above, nothing more than a snuff film and a cheap advertisement of hawkish talking points. In the year or so I was making arguments for going to war with Iraq, not once did I say, "We need to invade his country in order to stop the torture." Yes it was a very good thing we did by going in there and ridding the Iraqi people of the Hussein family but if you really wanted to invade some place for humanitarian purposes, you might want to start first with Central Africa.

I felt that there was nothing new to be learned from this movie unless you really didn't know how to enact a "stoning". The points the narrator makes in this movie could have been taken directly from Sean Hannity's talking points memo because they were just as juvenile. I can only assume that the point of this thing is for the good folks of Middle America to see it and become indignant with self-righteous determination to rid the world of "evil doers" like Saddam Hussein.

Well you know what, the world is not that simple. As hawkish as I am about National Security, there has to be more to validate any use of the American Armed Forces than the plot outline of a He-Man cartoon. I think this documentary is insulting to the American public. It strips away all of the nuance and debate and leaves you with this context free image of a barbaric place and one should be left feeling like it's our duty to liberate it. That's a childish GOP commercial, not a respectable presentation of the horrors of the Hussein regime.

If you truly feel like you cannot establish a cogent opinion on the Iraq War without seeing up-close images of beheadings and whippings then this is your movie. However, if you can string two thoughts together and have some knowledge of the world beyond your own neighborhood then don't waste your time or money.

Rating:
Summary: And Everyone Cries About How Americans Treated Them
Review: I just watched this DVD a few days ago, and it was just CHARMING to watch what these Iraqi ingrates do to one another for punishment, and what they did to the Jewish man and the Air Force Pilot. These are the very same people who have the gall to complain about how that prison was run by American Soldiers, who did humiliate them, but never caused bodily injury. I don't see this DVD as a "reason" why the U.S. had to invade Iraq. If anything, this only makes me more upset about my husband's deployment to Iraq coming in August. If an Iraqi gets a hold of him I have to worry about his head being sawed off with a tiny knife? I have to worry about his tongue being cut out, or being beaten into renal failure? It's disgusting and I say let the Iraqis beat each other into renal failure: We'll go elsewhere. Bush is an imbecile, and if he had to send his daughters over there to fight, suddenly invading Iraq wouldn't look like such a great idea now would it?

Rating:
Summary: Shows what real torture is
Review: If you ever wondered what the real torture committed in Iraq was then this DVD will show you that. It has gruesome video of beheadings, body parts being cut off and nasty things like that.

Safe to say it isn't for the faint of heart.

I think this would be a good movie to show in Iraq to the Iraqi people so they get to see what happened before we liberated them. It also makes Abu Ghraib prison seem like a tea party.

I wouldn't show it to anyone under 16 though as this is all the things you hope never happen to you. It can give nightmares.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible to see
Review: If you want to see hopeless brutality by primitive barbarians acted out against helpless captives (a good glimpse of Islam) this is the movie for you. The cautions are given frequently that the images to follow are graphic. Graphic doesn't begin to describe shreds of meat that were Israeli commuters when a palestinian detonated a bomb on a bus or the removal of fingers, tongues, hands, and heads by Muslims. This is the type of thing everyone should know so that we can dispell the illusions of civility.

Rating:
Summary: WATCH IT AND GET PISSED!!
Review: The fury will rise inside. Guaranteed. Fight on America.

Rating:
Summary: Abu Graib?? What's Abu Graib?
Review: What a bummer! I wish the infamous US Army Abu Graib pictures were the worse that the Iraqi people were subjected to. Unfortunately, they were forced to deal with some pretty ruthless stuff at the Hands of Saddam.

This is a true documentary (unlike some other newly famous "Documentaries"). This is more of a compilation of gruesome footage that occured under Saddam's rule. We're talking about the real breaking of bones, cutting off of tounges, and actual shootings of Saddam's enemies.

I don't think anyone should let their children see this. I almost lost it a few times and turned it off. Why? Because it's the actual footage taken by other soldiers and police committing the acts. Most footage is not perfect, but you know what? You'll know exactly what's going on at all times.

The point of the documentary is to show some perspective about what's really going on. If we only have put hoods on people and taken some stupid pictures, than you need to see the footage from Saddams Abu Graib. Where people are beaten to the point where bones are broken and the people are knocked unconcious.

There is a point on the documentary where you hear from some Palistinian youth. You see how badly they are brainwashed and you begin to recognize what the world has to face in the next few decades. It's a bummer, but you'll learn something from it.

The end of this DVD has a couple of the Beheadings. Unfortunatly I've been subjected to them before so I did not even watch them again. 1 is enough to see in a lifetime.

This is definatly worth seeing, but I'd say skip the beheadings. trust me... You don't need to see them... at all.