As it was said in one popular film “Destruction is a form of creation.” (Donnie Darko) However, looking at today`s world with all its wars, genocides and decay one may disagree with this quote. Practice shows that people in charge are no longer eager to build and develop their countries on the contrary they became masters of escalating material wealth by all means and by all costs. It seems that such a huge book of human history should have taught people that wars and destruction hold us back and deprive from development and spiritual enrichment but today`s reality shows that these lessons were never learned. The most vivid example of it may be found in documentary film About Baghdad (2004) directed by Sinan Antoon which reveals lives of those who will not go into history as great leaders or horrible dictators but those who will become history, those who lost everything in the name of nothing. Over the years, the USA population was bombed with media information how the war that was led in Iraq was a fight for democracy, for the freedom, but the film showed the other side of the truth. This documentary picture, indeed, may be considered as revealing one due to its way of presenting facts from everyday life of democracy ‘hostages’. This film changed my perception of Iraq war and convinced me completely that a priori there cannot be any good intentions behind war. With further description and explanation one may see how this democracy and all the best intentions of it are nothing more than hypocrisy and simple desire to empower one`s state at the cost of Iraq.
I may be one of the rare ones who believed that this war was an attempt to weaken one nation so that someone else can benefit from the natural resources. It should be mentioned that despite all those loud words about freedom and democracy the US army and government brought nothing else than more chaos and devastation into foreign country. The parallel drawn between regime of Saddam Hussein and the US attempts to free Iraq from war dragging them into more destructive and draining one shows that Iraqi are just hostages that go from one ‘prison’ into another. Also, American campaign against Hussein was empowered by media that showed only one negative side of Iraq social life. No doubt it was hard due to political restrictions and regime but at least there was some tiny grains of human treatment and order. For instance, it was a revelation for me that during Saddam regime there were coupons for every family to provide minimum food. (Marin Webb) People were unsatisfied and frightened to live under Hussein dictatorship and interference of so-called civilized world seemed to be an answer to prays. Unfortunately, this interference brought total destruction and chaos that forced people to flee from country and rethink their previous life under Hussein regime. Iraqi who condemned Hussein now begin to think that it was not that awful as it is nowadays which shows their despair and disappointment in hypocritical democracy. Film showed that what Iraqi have is not life it is primitive survival because one does not know what will be in the next moment or will his or her loved one come back home from shop. It is an awful reality that drains and weakens people not only physically but also mentally. Saddam Hussein was a dictator who led people of Iraq into a war with Iran, but as one man said in the film, "The student has left and the master has come" (About Baghdad). This sentence discovers hopelessness and helplessness of the ordinary people. Also, in his presentation of the documentary About Baghdad (2003) Sinan Antoon mentions asylum for insane people who broke out right after the US army entered the city and he states that one patient came back to asylum again voluntarily claiming that “Baghdad is so insane that I came back [] here there is a system I know what is happening, I know where to go and outside there is no system.” (Marin Webb) This action once more highlights the irony of Iraq`s attempts to get rid of the chaos as well as affords the US army to deliver those people from all that madness that was caused by regime. Using method of fighting fire with fire the US government only demolished Iraq leaving nothing but mentally damaged people and chaotic order.
Also, Sinan Antoon states that “You cannot destroy the state and then rebuild it again unless you think you`re god. So, what happens is the project failed and the Americans left and now you have chaos for 40-50 years, of course you will unleash all the [rest] Saddamas that are there.” (Marin Webb) As can be seen Iraqi lose not only hope but also their humanity that drag them down. They lost not only their material possessions and elementary necessities like electricity, attending cafes or simply walking along the street but they also lost the most important thing that identifies nation – their culture. The thing that strikes me the most in the film is the destruction of Iraqi culture. Hussein has begun to destroy it, but Bush administration intensified it by disregarding the culture of the country. One of the examples of that is when, near the end of the film, Sinan Antoon enters a memorial with the names of dead Iraqi soldiers and some of the names are covered with plastic cards so that there would be parking space for cars of the troops. This image represents absence of respect of Iraqi culture and ignoring as such. However, it should be mentioned that people are trying to save and bring from ruins Iraqi culture but they found no support from government or from the US army. Iraqi diasporas all over the world are ready to rebuild and save remains of their culture because it is one of the fundamental elements that erect and form nation and its identity. Unfortunately, even the US army could not provide the least thing – protection of those cultural saviors, thus once more highlighting material intentions of the US government in this affair.
Moreover, it frightens and bewilders me how easily the US government sent soldiers to destroy and kill innocent people and how those lives were depreciated. They were no longer persons that have their own story to tell but they became figures in news that show numbers of casualties and the most freighting thing for me is that I slowly began treated them as numbers of innocent victims of violence forgetting that with each perished Iraqi dies part of their identity and culture. While watching this film I once more convince that all this hypocrisy-democracy is nothing more that failed attempt to gain wealth and superiority. About Baghdad revealed me the other side of this war – Iraqi cultural decay.
The only thing that has not perished is hope for resurrection of Iraqi state, culture and identity. Thus, oil law fuels this hope because it is the only thing that may bring Iraq back from its knees. (Democracy Now!) The process is long and tiring because years of terror and slaughter take its toll but people show their willingness to save their country and to rebuild it again. To my mind if so-called civilized world truly wants to help it should start from oral political interference and democracy implementation.
All things considered war and destruction cannot create order; on the contrary, it brings more chaos and damage. All those high intentions and democracy implementation form Bush administration are just smoke and mirrors aimed at hiding terrible truth and true intentions of Iraq invasion. Natural resources are the main motif of all these deeds but not ordinary people who want to live their lives in peace and develop their culture and country. I hope that Iraq will recover completely from aftermath of this plague called war and it will be able not only save its cultural identity but also enrich it.
References
About Baghdad (2004), Directed by Sinan Antoon. InCounter Productions.
Democracy Now!,. "An Iraqi Rhapsody: Poet & Novelist Sinan Antoon On The U.S. Destruction Of The Iraqi State, His Latest Novel And The Sad Statement That Iraq Was Better Under Saddam Hussein". N.p., 2007. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
Kelly, Richard, dir. Donnie Darko. Flower Films, 2001. DVD.
Marin Webb, Marc. Sinan Antoon About Iraq I. 2012. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
Marin Webb, Marc. Sinan Antoon About Iraq II. 2012. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
