Live from Baghdad relevant to today's War on Terror

After Barack Obama is inaugurated as President, he will do everything in his power to responsibly remove all American forces from the Middle East. Whether or not this can be done without inciting catastrophe remains to be seen. However, The Iraqi War and the War on Terror have become sodden with so much vehement anti-war sentiment and propaganda that the actual reasons for our presence in the Middle East have become horrendously skewed. A cursory yet intelligent glance at the American public’s view of our presence in the Middle East would present one with a steaming, monstrous pile of uneducated opinions, allegations, and inflamed misinformation that has been spoon-fed to and ignorantly processed by the masses for nearly a decade.
For some unbiased and informed individuals, this modern state of ignorance cries for illumination. HBO’s “Live from Baghdad” offers a desperately needed and masterfully executed recapping of the events that would cause our former president to invade Iraq and begin the ill-fated War on Terror. “Live from Baghdad” presents this story not in documentary form, but in a dramatization, relating the intriguing story of the reporters involved in CNN’s coverage of the beginning of the Gulf War in 1991.
Michael Keaton presents an excellent portrayal of CNN Producer Robert Weiner, a clever, passionate reporter who demands the opportunity to cover the escalating situation in Iraq and the rise of its new despot, Saddam Hussein. With the consent of CNN, Weiner plunges himself, shrewd companion Ingrid Formanek (Helena Bonham Carter) and their intriguing news team headfirst into the center of the dispute to report the truth. Through his impressive skill as a reporter and ardent desire for the truth, Weiner befriends the Iraqi Information Minister Naji Al-Hadithi (David Suchet) and manages to set up an interview with Hussein himself. Weiner’s observations of the media, the threats traded by Hussein and President George Bush Sr., and the overall situation lead Weiner to the realization that he is placing his news team between Hussein and the inevitable conflict of the Gulf War, remarking to Al-Hadithi that “As long as we keep the talking going, we can prevent this war”
The film’s depiction of Baghdad is superb; Keaton and his news team, sporting camera and microphone boom, conveyed by tattered, miniature European taxis, navigate through iconic images of a sand-blasted ghetto-metropolis. Armed guards that more resemble ordinary men outfitted with secondhand fatigues and AK-47’s than soldiers march the streets and harass them, Iraqi media officials shove their hands in front of the CNN camera, turbaned-peasants tote “DOWN WITH BOSH” picket signs for the camera, and anti-aircraft fire blazes in unexpectedly beautiful trails of blinding lights into the night sky.
Few scenes in this movie depict Saddam’s wickedness better than Weiner’s coverage of Hussein’s broadcasted conversation with a captive British family, in which Hussein repeatedly pats the head of an utterly terrified 10-year old while a translator bombards the poor boy with questions tailored to favorable responses for the family’s gracious host, Saddam. “Live from Baghdad” uses several clips of footage actually recorded during the events the movie depicts, including the previously mentioned recording, which give the film a documentary-like authenticity that bolsters its already-sterling presentation, an authenticity that emphatically offers a desperately needed explanation of the Gulf War and former president Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Whether or not it vindicates it is for the viewer to decide.