Coming to an Understanding of 21st Century Iraq Through Film

I always find it odd that, although we have been at war in Iraq since 2003, and since we have been at odds with Iraq since 1990, most Americans have a very thin understanding of Iraqi culture. Additionally, Americans tend to have a very thin understanding of the current situation on the ground in Iraq, along with having a general lack of understanding of the dynamics of the American occupation of Iraq and the exact reasons for the occupation. Thankfully, there have been some EXCELLENT films that have been released in recent years that tackle those exact topics. In fact, I would like to share with you what I consider to be the ultimate Iraq trilogy. The first film is James Longley's 2006 documentary feature Iraq in Fragments. This film really gets to the heart of the reason for instability in Iraq--the deep divisions between Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds. A second important film is Laura Poitras' 2006 documentary feature My Country, My Country. This film explores the challenges and difficulties of introducing the democratic process in Iraq, a country with no previous tradition of democracy. The film explores this topic by highlighting the campaign of an Iraqi politician in the first elections in that country's history. The third film is perhaps the most powerful of three, and that is Charles Ferguson's 2007 documentary feature No End in Sight. I will put it this way: YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE CURRENT IRAQ WAR UNTIL YOU SEE THIS FILM! The trailers for all three films can be viewed below. I do hope that many of you will take the time to see these films. A responsible citizen would want to be fully informed about conflicts his country is engaged in and would want to understand fully the culture of countries the US is in conflict with.