Out of interest has anyone been watching these documentarys.
Iraq was on last night.
They really should be manditory viewing for anyone who thinks "bombing the rag heads" is a good way to settle this whole thing:
www.bbc.co.uk...
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some interesting posts in the message board linked off the site you mentioned, lupe.
CLICK HERE
BBC Four: Having been to all these countries, what is your take on the Axis of Evil?
BA: It's an absolute joke.
He makes it sound like all the ëevilí is made up with that statement. I think this guy is a bit naive myself. He goes on to point out that minders
were assigned to him. Geez, if it was such a joke, why would they appoint minders to him? He goes on to say this: they somehow found this out and
we were imprisoned in a strange government building almost like apartments. I had a bed and two meals a day but every night between nine and midnight
five of them took you to a small room on the top floor and grilled us for four or five hours. (this, while he was in Iran).
Iíd rather go to Cancun for a holiday. But thatís just me. Again, why the minders?? Good post Lupe - I wish BBC was available to me - I'd like to
watch these. Do you get the History Channel by chance?
[Edited on 12-2-2003 by Bob88]
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In the actual program he spends most of the time with the actual people. He doesn't really claim that the "axis of evil" is non existent, he claims
that it suggests a link between the countrys where none really exists.
he also claims that it taints entire countrys rather than its leaders.
one particularly telling situation again in Iran I believe, was where the dictatorship didn't enjoy public support until they were named part of the
access of evil at which point the people, believeing quite naturally that they would be on Bush's target list, rallied behind the government against
the oppression of the US.
Most importantly though, the docs allow you to see some of the people who are going to get hurt in this conflict.
saying that your about to "bomb the rag heads" is a hell of a lot easier before you've seen some of these "rag heads" playing in the street,
smiling and basically trying to make the best of a bad lot.
A government will allways try to dehumanise an enemy.
the first step of an anti war movement is to humanise them so that people at least have to put a face on the limbless bodys.
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Interesting read....
When Bush mentions the "axis of evil" he means the governments,not the people.At least that is my take on it.My problem with the axis of evil is
their govenment.Some(Saddam) need to be removed,others like NK I think we can still deal with by talking to them.
Bob88,most satellite companies offer BBC if your interested.
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I would have to say that I've watched a lot of different channels in my time and the Beeb as far as I can tell make some of the best documentorys
going.
If your after good factual programmes with varied political stances you could do a lot worse.
hell, its worth it just for newsnight.
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When it comes to a war with Iraq - I think I side with our local Iraqi community. All that I have read and heard from them - they tend to think a US
attack is the only hope for their people. They really want Saddam gone and they note that people die every day because of him. So, even w/ out a
conflict - people are dying there.
And as Nyeff said, I don't think anyone thinks or is trying to imply, state, mention, etc that the people of these nations are evil. Nor do I believe
anyone has tried to dehumanise anyone.
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the US government realizes what we, the American public in general, do not...and that's that the majority of the Iraqi people themselves are just
people, same as you or I...they go to work, walk their dogs, etc. not villains. Because of this, they will strive to avoid as many civilian
casualties as possible. The sad part is, many of these people will be killed by being used as human shields. The majority of the Iraqi people
believe their leader is in the right, because it is the only view they know. In America, sometimes freedom can blind you to such an idea, and you
don't realize how such a society can be brainwashed, and how easily... I've called many a "rag head" friend, and I don't wish for civilian
deaths, but at the same time, this isn't a war against the Iraqi people...it's a war against the tyrant who leads them...
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