9/11 Trilogy part 2: The Oath

Today we watched The Oath which is the second film of Laura Poitras' documentaries in her 9/11 Trilogy.

The film revolves around Abu Jandal, a taxi driver in San'a, Yemen who had worked as a bodyguard to Osama bin Laden for four years, and Salim Ahmed Hamdan. The latter worked for bin Laden as his driver in Afghanistan, and was captured in 2001 during the US invasion. He was detained as an enemy combatant and transported in 2002 to Guantanamo Bay. Hamdan was the first defendant to be tried in the U.S. military tribunals established by the United States Department of Defense.

This was another fascinating insight into events following on from 9/11 and exposes things are have been veiled by the media.  Salim Hamdan was found to have been held in a way that was unconstitutional. The US then passed a law immediately which allowed them to then charge him and convict him. It's quite a sad film that tugs on the heart strings in ways you wouldn't expect.


If you watch the film it is certainly worth doing some research on what happened with both Abu Jandal and Salim Ahmed Hamdan afterwards.......

9/11 Trilogy part 1: My Country, My Country

Today we watched My Country, My Country which the first film of Laura Poitras' documentaries in her 9/11 Trilogy.

Laura Poitras spent over eight months working on her own and for some time following a US Army Civil Affairs team during the elections in Iraq filming the documentary. The film shows life in Iraq for average Iraqis under U.S. occupation. Poitras focuses primarily on Dr. Riyadh al-Adhadh, an Iraqi medical doctor, father of six and Sunni political candidate.

It's a really good documentary and certainly shows a very interesting side of things in Iraq that is not often broadcast in the media in that it shows how badly the US made a mess if things in Iraq. This isn't conspiracy theory stuff, it's all presented factually with no interpretation on things.