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At War with Iraq: Variations of a Phantom Menace Hidden Wars of Desert Storm
A documentary by Audrey Brohy and Gerard Ungerman
TERRY BAKER EspreeNet News Service
Syracuse, NY (ENet News) - As the massive pre-emptive military strike known to most as Operation Iraqi Freedom moves from Blitzkrieg to assessment and reconstruction, you'd think the mainstream media (particularly television) would begin to give us better historical perspective how this all began.
And if you're a critical thinker like most of the folks who frequent this website, you yearn for pertinent information and critical perspectives from non-tradition sources.
This weekend, I watched an surprisingly timely documentary produced in 2000 by Audery Brohy and Gerard Ungerman called "Hidden Wars of Desert Storm." The hour-plus film chronicles the history of modern Middle East geopolitics, the Gulf War and its aftermath, as well as the prevalence of Gulf War Syndrome. "Hidden Wars" interviews a litany of former soldiers, defense officials, international activists and journalists.
The most impressive information for me was exposing the link between Gulf War Syndrome and depleted Uranium in weapons used during bombing sorties. Uranium is a radioactive compound often found in nuclear weapons or reactors. Exposure reportedly came on the battlefields that troops crossed after heavy bombardment (presumably with these weapons). It's reported that over 180,00 troops filed for disability following the conflict and over 9,000 died.
The film also shows some often grotesque, physical deformities and symptoms of children suffering from of this illness in Basra, Iraq and these make those old Sally Struthers "just a dollar-a-day" commercials look tame. This and other evidence gives an enlightened meaning to terms such as "supporting the troops," "weapons of mass destruction" and "friendly fire."
Overall, "Hidden Wars of Desert Storm" is not perfect, and certainly not a complete portrait, but it does make you ask questions about why we invaded Iraq, and more important, what will happen next.
For more information on the film visit www.hiddenwars.org
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