NY Times and Unfettered Lies - "The War Tapes"

Short intro: "The War Tapes" is the chonicling of a year in Iraq by members of the Vermont National Guard. Several soldiers did the filming, with the cameras being provided for them by the film's producer, Deborah Scranton. Well, once more, the MSM/HBM, in the form of the New York Times has the gall to just make a statement that is absolutely wrong. Read the review of "The War Tapes" movie at the Tribeca Film Festival here. It's part way down in the NY Times article, between other movie reviews from the festival, but here is the false statement from the NY Times reporter:

It is fascinating to observe how a prevailing cynicism about the war doesn't undercut the deeply felt patriotism of men who assume that its goal is not the establishment of democracy in the Middle East, but the acquisition of oil and money.

Taking a look at the website for the movie, here are comments from Mike, one of the soldiers who did the filming, and one other who were there for the year deployment:

Oil and money? Actually I never said it was for oil and money. I support the mission in Iraq and its intentions. I feel the US Military is doing a terrific job in many many areas. I do think we are moving too slowly and too delicately. Too busy being nice and treading lightly. Its a war. I had an elderly Iraqi gentlemen tell me this weekend at the conference our problem is that we lost our "angry face". He went on to educate me how the enemy insurgents in the Middle East always have and always will respond to one thing and one thing only. Brutal opponents. Hell,maybe we should take some oil while we are there. We deserve it. Posted by: Mike M. | April 25, 2006 08:32 PM Funny. I don't remember anything about oil while I was there? Do you, Mike? We never escorted oil out of the country. In fact, the only Fuel I saw was being IMPORTED from the outside. Posted by: Kinsella | April 26, 2006 10:52 AM If the war is for oil then why are gas prices so high? As far as the war supposedly being for money,thats funny. Money for who? All I saw was money being spent. I just dont see the profit here. Profit for Halliburton maybe,but someone please tell me what other company is big enough and prepared enough to replace them. Dont get me wrong KBR needs some major belt tightening as far as I'm concerned but lets get off the Cheney/Halliburton thing. Its only for the sake of trashing the administration.Dick Cheney isnt in Iraq telling KBR to fix my air conditioner 7 times in 6 days and to charge the tax payer for every visit. The problem isnt them being there,its that noone can really watch the numbers and question them. NON PRODUCTIVE folks. That kind of whining doesnt help prevent another guy from getting blasted at 50 Alpha. Posted by: Mike M. | April 26, 2006 11:58 AM

The sad part is those comments will most likely never make it to the NY Times pages as a correction to a film critic turned master strategist by watching a few films. On the bright side, I suspect people who have believed this falsehood on the war for oil will now, based on the review, go to see it in order to gather "evidence" to support their beliefs. Once they have seen it, I suspect they will have found out Mr. Holden tricked them into seeing the war in a different light than they had hoped to, spoiling their agruments from now on. I will say, if this in Mr. Holden's intention, to cause them to enter the "kill zone" and to ambush that lie, he does the world a great service by making the film more widely viewed and understood. Side note: The NY Times film critic, Stephen Holden, seems to fancy himself as an accomplished psychologist, too:

When they return in triumph, two are suffering from signs of post-traumatic stress they are reluctant to address.

I think Mr. Holden should keep his day job and get a grip on reality. Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the trackback....