Dissident Veteran For Peace

"I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America." —Alexis de Tocquevile. Democracy in America, Book I, Chapter XV.

With a nod to the Most Rev. Dom Helder Camara: When I support Palestinians some call me an 'anti-Semite', when I try to explain why I stand in solidarity with Palestinians they call me a Nazi.

"WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." —Major General Smedley Butler, USMC (ret.)

"... no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end." —character of O'Brien in 1984, part 3, ch. 3 by George Orwell.

"Every prophet has realized that nobody loves you for being the enemy of their illusions. Every prophet has realized that most of us want peace at any price as long as the peace is ours and somebody else pays the price. That is why the prophet Jeremiah said, ' "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace,' ..." —The Rev. William Sloane Coffin. "Not to Bring Peace, But a Sword."

Friday, March 08, 2019

Fair Game

Fair Game is about the bogus intelligence used to justify the US' 2003 invasion of Iraq and, more specifically, the exposure of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Unfortunately, the film soft pedals the crucial role of the Israel-firsters in the drive to illegally invade Iraq. In any case, this film still tells an important story.

In late 2018, Fair Game director Liman released a director's cut of the film. This coincided with President Trump's decision earlier in the year to pardon I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff and a protege of Paul Wolfowitz. Libby is a key figure in the film. He was convicted in 2007 of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements in the Plame Affair.

See also (in chronological order):

"Playing skittles with Saddam" in The Guardian
"The Scooter Libby-Marc Rich Connection" on The Unz Review
"The 'JINSA Crowd' and the Iraq War" on the Dissident Veteran for Peace blog
"Scooter Libby Love Letters: Washington elite petition judge on behalf of convicted Cheney aide" on The Smoking Gun
Fair Game reviewed by Roger Ebert
Fair Game reviewed in The Guardian
"Scooter Libby & Paul Wolfowitz to Teach Iraq 'Decision-Making' " in The American Conservative
"Why Ariel Sharon Thanked Scooter Libby" in Mosaic
"The Pardon of Marc Rich" in CounterPunch
"When Trump Makes Your Largely Forgotten Movie Urgent Again" in The Atlantic
"Former CIA Spy Valerie Plame: Trump Is 'Dangerous For Our National Security' " on The Daily Beast
"Director Doug Liman Believes 'Fair Game' is More Relevant Than Ever" on FilmSchoolRejects

Labels: Bush, film & television, Iraq, Israel Lobby, Neoconservatives, Trump, Valerie Plame, video

# posted by VFPDissident @ 3/08/2019 08:13:00 PM 0 comments

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Nothing But The Truth

This film is inspired by the Valerie Plame affair but it's not a retelling of that story. It is a sophisticated cinematic exploration of the clash between the imperatives of government and a free society.

See also: "L'affaire Plame" by Justin Raimondo on Antiwar.com.

Labels: civil liberties, film & television, freedom, politics, Valerie Plame, War

# posted by VFPDissident @ 10/11/2015 01:56:00 PM 1 comments