The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba has started showing film series, and I met Dad at the Park Theatre on Wednesday for the second film of their first series: Popcorn With Your Politics. The film was Iraq for Sale, and despite barraging my friends with emails, I couldn’t convince any of them to drag their sorry asses out to see it with me. But even though I went alone, I am so incredibly glad to have seen the film – it was mind-blowing. Absolutely shocking.
The film (produced by Brave New Films, see the film description on their site, here) is a “strategic documentary” that explores the American companies that have been making millions of dollars from the privatization of the war in Iraq. Companies like Halliburton and Blackwater have been awareded million- and billion-dollar contracts (‘awarded’ as in there was no contest or bidding whatsoever) from the U.S. Government for everything from private armies to supplying U.S. troops with water and food. The problem is that not only are these contracted hirees from U.S. companies not held accountable, but the companies themselves care little about the welfare of their employees and put their lives in danger in order to carry out their contracts. Private contractors are hired as interrogators in Abu Ghraib, pulling civilians off the street for random interrogations that result in heinous torture and appear to be conducted simply because U.S. security companies see a way to make some money. Contracts obtained to provide food and water to the U.S. troops are seemingly just cash cows, as the water provided is often contaminated with pathogens as providing clean, safe water is too costly.
The companies awarded these contracts, like Halliburton, operate on a cost plus system, which basically means that the contractor gets a percentage of the overall cost of the operation – ultimately amounting to: the more you spend, the more you make. Personnel working in the U.S. Army and those hired as contractors both testified to the fact that when a piece of equipment breaks down, Halliburton burns it and orders a new one. Computers, machines, vehicles, even huge, $80,000 semis are destroyed in “burning pits” if they so much as get a flat tire, because Halliburton knows they can simply buy another and reap the financial benefits in the end.
The people hired are seen as disposable, and sent out on the job into hostile territory if that’s what needs to happen to fulfill a contract. Some of the men hired to drive gas tankers recounted stories of roadside attacks, where they were shot at and had to listen over their truck radios as their buddies died in their burning trucks, when the U.S. military wouldn’t even send out their soldiers for fear of attack. The people killed were civilians. Truck drivers! It was heartbreaking.
I could barely contain myself when I got home from the movie that night, recanting nearly the whole thing to Matt, who sat opposite me, blinking. The whole thing just got me so fired up – about half way through the film I thought to myself “I need to join a group, or protest, or make a sign” – anything! I suppose that was the point of the documentary. Afterwards there was a Q&A with an Iraqi man who works in Winnipeg for an organization that helps new immigrants adjust to Canadian life. He was very knowledgeable, and, it turns out, I knew him from…a past life, so to speak. That was a little odd, but interesting nonetheless.
It seems odd to me that people can so easily dismiss the fact that we are in war times – I mean, I’m not excusing myself in that statement – but I suppose the media has made it easy for Westerners to ignore what is happening overseas. I was reminded of this when I saw Across the Universe on Friday with Matt, Neil, and Darlene. Why are the 1960s revered as the time of revolution? It’s almost as though the 60s are glamorized as this period of free-lovin’, long-hair-growin’, LSD-trippin’, multi-coloured-poncho-wearin’ activism that is somehow not applicable to today. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to sport a poncho, but honestly – we are going through essentially the same turmoil, just within a different context. There is an unjust war going on right now, troops are dying, Iraqi civilians are dying, and all for what? Money? Oil? George Bush’s ego trip? Don’t tell me that the same enthusiasm and determination that is glamorized in movies like Across the Universe isn’t needed today. Whether the media chooses to report it or not, this shit is still going on and it’s not going to stop itself. Just think: if this is left to fester unnoticed, what else will we let the capitalist pig-dogs get away with?
Now, if you need me, I’ll be making flower crowns and macramé picket signs.
