Secret wars breed deadly blow-back. It’s a truth as old as covert operations themselves but one that both Democratic and Republican administrations ignore, leading to a vicious cycle of spending on killing that soaks up billions of public dollars.
That’s the story Rick Rowley and Jeremy Scahill tell in their documentary, Dirty Wars. The film follows reporter, Scahill, as he investigates one U.S. night raid in Afghanistan, and traces the truth from that country to Somalia, Yemen and back to the United States.
What stops “Dirty Wars”? Movements, says Rowley, in this in depth interview with GRITtv; movements inspired by stories, like those he and Scahill are telling.
"Wars like this do end, and they end when there is an organized collective dissent that forces those in Washington to take a principled stand. If we wait for Congress or whatever American president, Republican or Democrat to change this course on their own, we'll be waiting forever.”
A long time documentary maker, Rowley talks with Flanders here about the inspiration he drew early in his career from the Mexican Zapatista leader, Subcommandante Marcos, and why he settled on video and film as his chosen medium for story-telling.
As the world awaits the verdict from the judge in the court-martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning for secret-sharing in the name of blowing the whistle on the US’s latest out-of control war, it’s hard to imagine a more timely documentary, or a more important conversation.