Not on my list of places to see
Once in a while, everything you learn about a particular place just fits together in a coherent form. You know, when you ask about a particular destination, and the reports are all “on the same wavelength”.
Just before the weekend started, I completed a book that my son had picked up this summer on vacation. The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell; An Accidental Soldier’s Account Of The War In Irak by John R. Crawford is a narrative tale by an American soldier in Irak, written when he returned from active duty in 2003. His story is not one to please the hawks of the current administration. There is little to recommend military service here.
Tonight, I watched a subtitled version of the documentary Occupation: Dreamland by Garrett Scott and Ian Olds. Talk about singing from the same hymnbook. The crew spent the winter of 2004 in Irak, and again, there were no surprises here, other than the colour scheme which reminded me of sepia toning in the darkroom a long time ago. I have a sneaking suspicion that the palette was balanced.
As the war that really isn’t drags into a fourth or fifth winter (I’m losing count) it strikes me that history really does repeat itself. Pity that politicians aren’t required to take a mandatory course or two hundred along the way. I won’t be putting Irak (and its evil twin, Afghanistan) on my list of places to see.
