Home :: DVD :: Documentary :: Politics  

African American Heritage
Art & Artists
Biography
Comedy
Crime & Conspiracy
Gay & Lesbian
General
History
IMAX
International
Jewish Heritage
Military & War
Music & Performing Arts
Nature & Wildlife
Politics

Religion
Science & Technology
Series
Space Exploration
Sports
Uncovered - The Whole Truth About the Iraq War

Uncovered - The Whole Truth About the Iraq War

List Price: $9.95
Your Price: $9.95
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Take a look at the Atrocities of your leader for a change
Review: DEAR. K. B Conger "Unabashed Conservative" (Bellevue, WA USA) - See all my reviews

You think a dictator killing MILLIONS of people isn't sufficient reason to remove him? The fact that he Lies to futher his own personal war, much less his blatant disregard for the lives of his own people, the massacring of the innocent lives or his repeated noncompliance with the UN. Come on people, lets get some perspective. George W Bush needes to be removed and Tony Blair many world leaders recognized that and had the guts to do what was right. I personally applaud them.

There you go.. Much better now. ( The above was complete fabircation from a negative review.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A chilling exposé of the lies about the war on Iraq
Review: "Uncovered - The Whole Truth about the Iraq War" is a chilling exposé of the lies upon which the war on Iraq is based. This DVD reveals that the idea for war against Iraq came to the Bush administration on September 11th, 2001. They realized that the fear instilled in the US population by the terrorist attacks in New York and DC would be a wonderful way to mobilize the US population for war against Iraq. The only thing necessary was a justification, so they decided to mislead the US population into believing that Osama bin Laden and Saddam are partners, and that Iraq had nuclear capabilities that they planned to soon use against us. As this DVD reveals, these were all lies.

Most of the lies are by now well-known to those of us who were opposed to the war from the beginning: there are no weapons of mass destruction, Iraq was not gearing up for war with the US, Saddam and bin Laden are not partners and in fact opposed one another. But this documentary is still interesting because it contains the interviews of many people who have worked within the governmental and military system for decades, such as: former Ambassador Joe Wilson; weapons inspectors Scott Ritter and David Albright; anti-terrorism expert Rand Beers; former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, former CIA operative Robert Baer; and Washington editor of The Nation, David Corn. It's fascinating for me to see footage of people who are within the system, believe in the system, and yet are willing to come forward and speak out against Bush and the war on Iraq. For example, John Dean, former White House counsel, comments on the lies Bush told to Congress about Iraq's nuclear capabilities, explaining that it is a federal felony, a crime, to distort information that you present to congress.

I was also struck by the juxtaposition of archival footage, gleaned from a variety of talk shows and public addresses, of Bush, Powell, Rice, and other White House representatives, telling their lies and uttering their buzz words and catch phrases. Asking such ridiculous questions as, "Why should we wait for that smoking gun in the form of a mushroom cloud?" During the buildup to war I had avoided watching such addresses, (because I knew it was all nonsense) so it is interesting to now see such footage. It is so easy to see how all these appearances were scripted. Bush, Rice, Powell, and company, all come across as robots, shells of human beings. It made me wonder what it was like to lie to a nation, the entire world even, knowing that your lies would result in the deaths of thousands: about 10,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed, and nearly 700 US soldiers have since been killed. It's a chilling thing to imagine. I don't know how they can sleep at night.

The documentary closes with some wonderful commentary on patriotism and all the propaganda we heard that those of us who oppose the war are traitors, that if you oppose the war then you are not supporting the troops. Milt Bearden, former CIA Station Chief in Pakistan with 30 years of service, comments that unlike just about anyone who holds office in the US, he has two sons who served in the military and even went into combat. In Mr. Bearden's words, "I don't have to take any such nonsense on this. And I won't."

Andrew Michael Parodi

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good information but be careful
Review: "Uncovered: The Truth About the Iraq War" comes to us from the folks at Moveon.org, the website funded by billionaire gangster George Soros. A sanctuary for far left-wing politicos, Moveon.org dumped millions of dollars into the presidential election of 2004 in an effort to unseat President Bush and his cronies. The organization is still receiving lots of media attention as it shifts attention to the upcoming midterm elections while continuing its assault on the ongoing conflict in Iraq. I always suppress a grin whenever I check Moveon.org's web page or hear someone talking about the site as though whatever information appears there is the equivalent of the holy gospel. Extremists of both stripes--meaning far left and far right--make abundant use of the Internet to spew their venom, and Moveon.org is obviously an extremist site filled with extremist views and literature. Soros's organization relies on "United Frontism," or a process used by fanatics to draw in sympathizers or others with left-leaning views in order to radicalize them. The communists used this practice the world over with overwhelming success. It's standard operating procedure on the far left.

One of the tools drawing in dupes is "Uncovered." Created by Robert Greenwald, "Uncovered" is an occasionally disconcerting documentary about the various evasions, half-truths, and outright lies issued by the White House regarding the invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The documentary calls forth a plethora of individuals, Joe Wilson and Scott Ritter being the most recognizable, who carry important titles with various alphabet agencies in the federal government. "Uncovered" presents us with dozens of former ambassadors, retired military officers, CIA operatives, magazine editors, defense department wonks, and weapons inspectors. After the devastating attacks of September 11th, argues the documentary, reason went out the window regarding our foreign policy. Bush and his neoconservative hacks took advantage of the tragedy to suppress voices arguing for a calm and measured response, instead favoring hawks who would say or do anything to gain support for an all-out invasion of the Middle East. Iraq sat at the top of the list, in large part due to the efforts of Paul Wolfowitz, a longtime presence in government who agitated for war against Israel's enemies in the region for years before Bush came to power.

"Uncovered" goes on to discuss Secretary of State Colin Powell's infamous speech at the United Nations wherein he laid out the case for invading Iraq, one of President Bush's State of the Union speeches, and the numerous claims made by administration flacks on various news programs about Iraq's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons capability. The experts in the documentary refute many of these claims on a point by point basis. Iraq tried to buy nuclear materials from Niger? Not according to the experts in this documentary. The Iraqis owned elaborate trucks designed to manufacture chemical weapons? Nope. What about all those hidden stocks of dangerous biological armaments? All gone says Scott Ritter and several others who spent years documenting Hussein's various programs. Saddam and Osama in league with one another? Yeah right. At one point an expert repudiates the claim that Iraq currently possessed nearly 200 tons of deadly materials as "Not a conservative estimate, but a neoconservative estimate." Funny. On and on it goes, as "Uncovered" strives to demolish totally any argument for war made by the Bush administration. I'm quite conservative and I didn't see anything wacky in this program. What I did see were many legitimate concerns about the war.

I should say that I never supported going to war in Iraq. I recall discussing the looming conflict with several associates at the university, and not one of us could think of any adequate reason for going to war against Saddam Hussein at that specific time. One friend believed keeping Saddam in power would be a good thing because his continued presence served as a check on Iran. I cited several historical examples of similar situations, namely powerful countries installing puppet leaders or attempting to impose alien political systems on another nation, and how ALL of them ultimately failed. Whatever the argument, the consensus view was not to invade. I believe that our attempt to remake the Middle East into a bastion of democracy will ultimately fail, and I also believe a lot of American citizens here and abroad will perish in the process. Until our people and our government do something about the real reasons that led to those scurrilous attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, we can expect a long and protracted conflict stretching into every corner of the globe. And just because we outlasted the Soviet Union doesn't translate into an automatic victory over organized terrorism. At the same time, we can't merely sit back and allow the attacks to go unpunished. No great power ever sits idly by in such a situation. Quite a conundrum, eh?

So what is my problem with "Uncovered"? They are two in number. First, I don't like how the extremists use this documentary to convince viewers to join Moveon.org and other radical organizations so they can be brainwashed with left-wing propaganda. Second, truth is an elusive concept rarely if ever discovered this easily. The situation in Iraq can't be explained solely in administration terms, nor can it be explained solely in Moveon.org's terms. Whenever someone presents you with two diametrically opposite viewpoints, ignore them and look for the truth somewhere in the middle. Greenwald has no exclusive claim to the truth any more than the Bush administration does. Remember this when watching "Uncovered," but by all means watch it if for no other reason than to provide a way to get to that cherished middle ground where the truth must surely lie.





Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A chilling exposé of the lies about the war on Iraq
Review: "Uncovered - The Whole Truth about the Iraq War" is a chilling exposé of the lies upon which the war on Iraq is based. This DVD reveals that the idea for war against Iraq came to the Bush administration on September 11th, 2001. They realized that the fear instilled in the US population by the terrorist attacks in New York and DC would be a wonderful way to mobilize the US population for war against Iraq. The only thing necessary was a justification, so they decided to mislead the US population into believing that Osama bin Laden and Saddam are partners, and that Iraq had nuclear capabilities that they planned to soon use against us. As this DVD reveals, these were all lies.

Most of the lies are by now well-known to those of us who were opposed to the war from the beginning: there are no weapons of mass destruction, Iraq was not gearing up for war with the US, Saddam and bin Laden are not partners and in fact opposed one another. But this documentary is still interesting because it contains the interviews of many people who have worked within the governmental and military system for decades, such as: former Ambassador Joe Wilson; weapons inspectors Scott Ritter and David Albright; anti-terrorism expert Rand Beers; former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, former CIA operative Robert Baer; and Washington editor of The Nation, David Corn. It's fascinating for me to see footage of people who are within the system, believe in the system, and yet are willing to come forward and speak out against Bush and the war on Iraq. For example, John Dean, former White House counsel, comments on the lies Bush told to Congress about Iraq's nuclear capabilities, explaining that it is a federal felony, a crime, to distort information that you present to congress.

I was also struck by the juxtaposition of archival footage, gleaned from a variety of talk shows and public addresses, of Bush, Powell, Rice, and other White House representatives, telling their lies and uttering their buzz words and catch phrases. Asking such ridiculous questions as, "Why should we wait for that smoking gun in the form of a mushroom cloud?" During the buildup to war I had avoided watching such addresses, (because I knew it was all nonsense) so it is interesting to now see such footage. It is so easy to see how all these appearances were scripted. Bush, Rice, Powell, and company, all come across as robots, shells of human beings. It made me wonder what it was like to lie to a nation, the entire world even, knowing that your lies would result in the deaths of thousands: about 10,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed, and nearly 700 US soldiers have since been killed. It's a chilling thing to imagine. I don't know how they can sleep at night.

The documentary closes with some wonderful commentary on patriotism and all the propaganda we heard that those of us who oppose the war are traitors, that if you oppose the war then you are not supporting the troops. Milt Bearden, former CIA Station Chief in Pakistan with 30 years of service, comments that unlike just about anyone who holds office in the US, he has two sons who served in the military and even went into combat. In Mr. Bearden's words, "I don't have to take any such nonsense on this. And I won't."

Andrew Michael Parodi

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Must Have...
Review: ...for anyone with even the slightest bit of concern for our country. There is no doubt that we are looking at a terrible future if we continue to let our government be hijacked by these elitists. Their desire for power is only matched by their greed. This film is a haunting reminder that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fact After Fact
Review: After seeing Michael Moore's, "Bowling For Columbine", I thought I would be prepared for another typical assault on the Bush administration. I was wrong. This documentary may not be as well crafted as Moore's, but it is a damaging piece of hard evidence against those who proposed the war on Iraq. Over twenty FBI, CIA agents and "weapons inspectors" are interviewed clipped in between videos of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Ashcroft and the rest of the Bush administration. Some of these folks interviewed worked for decades under many presidents. Most worked under Bush Sr. The evidence is so plainly obvious, it's a wonder anyone sees it differently. It's black and white. Clips of many of the Bush administrators are shown and then later proven to be outright lies. It was almost too much to take in at once. Clinton lied to the American people about his extra-marital affair. The entire Bush administration lied to the world about the war on Iraq.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very scary stuff
Review: Although I agree that Saddam Hussein was a bad man, he was no worse and no more a threat to this country than numerous others who have been ignored by this administration. It is worthwhile to remember that many of the bodies in those mass graves so often cited as evidence of his atrocities were there because George H.W. Bush left them to be slaughtered after the first Gulf war. I have served in uniform for this country for the better part of my life and have been stop lossed from the IRR just last month at the age of 50. Although I'm not thinking of running off to Canada, I have had my doubts about the veracity of the statements presented as justification in the infamous SOTU speech by Bush and the statements of Powell before the UN even prior to watching this movie. Having now see it presented in this way, I feel ashamed of my government and it's policies. That does not make me unpatriotic. I don't have to like Bush to love my country, any more than the neo-cons had to like Clinton to love America. I have also seen "Outfoxed" In many ways it is even more frightening. I recommend you see both. If nothing else, maybe it will open a few eyes, and minds. I hope so. America is based on truth and freedom. That should never be sold out for the interests of a few.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Truth hurts-Five stars
Review: As one of your reviewer shows. I think this is a DVD that tries to reveal to Americans what the rest of the world already knew which is that this administration lied, deceived and concocted stories to justify a war that was planned even before 9/11. Five stars.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great informational movie
Review: Despite what some of the posts on here would suggest, this is a factual DVD. Ofcourse it is left leaning, but it does lay out the entire Gulf War II issue in chronological order and poses many interesting questions and facts. Overall the production quality seems very good combining live news footage with interviews with some very important people. The movie definately gives you an inside look at how some of the politics inside the White House were handled leading up to the war. If people are frightened by the possibility that this movie tells the truth, then dont watch it. Watch some radical conservative movies instead.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Film Demolishes Bush Administration's Sales Pitch For War!
Review: Director Robert Greenwald's "Uncovered - The War On Iraq" chronicles the Bush Administration's case to invade Iraq following the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The film analyzes, and demolishes, the administration's arguments for war through interviews with high level experts and professionals from the Central Intelligence Agency, the US State Department, the US military, congress, as well as weapons analysts and inspectors.

I am extremely impressed with the quality of information proffered in the film. Over 20 experts, with informed opinions and facts, provide outstanding testimony. It is extremely disturbing to listen to these declarations, no matter what one's political affiliation. We are all Americans when it comes down to it, and we all want what is best for our country. However, the American people have a right to the truth. We have a right to make decisions based on sound information before we send our sons and daughters off to war. As taxpayers, we also have a right to receive a fair approximation of the amount of money to be spent on said war.

Greenwald works with two stories here. The first is the one told to the American people by President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condee Rice, etc., in the State of the Union speeches, the president's and Secretary Powell's speeches before the United Nations, and in several press conferences and interviews. The administration's story is reconstructed through stock footage. The second story, and the other side of the coin, is told by the interviewees mentioned above, based on their first hand experience. Impeccable sources, all with records of outstanding service, bear witness here. They are united in their message, which is - from start to finish, the Bush administration's war effort was built on calculated lies. They detail the lies, misstatements and exaggerations that served as the reasons to launch a "preemptive" strike and begin the Iraqi war. The documentary offers an in-depth look at the distortion of intelligence and the "spin" presented to the American people and to the Congress.

It is also pointed out, and startling to note in retrospect, how the administration's story and rational has changed over a two year period. The public is told now that our preemptive strike, and subsequent invasion of a sovereign foreign country, was to bring down a tyrant and to liberate a people. Two years ago we were told that we were stopping an imminent threat to the world from weapons of mass destruction.

The press is taken to task for neglecting to do its job before the war began. They apparently never asked the tough questions, like the ones asked by those who participate in the movie. Scott Ritter, former U. N. weapons inspector, was actually ridiculed by Paula Zahn, (the clip is shown), and other members of the media because he was one of the first who insisted on the absence of WMD.

While I am impressed with the documentary's content, I am disappointed with the quality of the film. The production lacks professionalism. The film is spliced in an amateur fashion, making for extremely choppy viewing, and the editing and camera work are poor in many instances. The talking head quotes, taken directly from newspaper headlines, appear tabloid in nature, which really undermines the seriousness of the testimony. And the quotes are accompanied by drum rolls, and overly dramatic music. The speakers' testimonies and levels of expertise are dramatic in and of themselves. There was no need to undermine a class act by embellishing. I am sorry if I sound overly picky, but as a reviewer I would be remiss if I did not mention these distractions. I understand this documentary was put together rapidly and I admire everyone's resolve to get it before the public ASAP. I just cannot help but wish for a finer work product. That said, I am extremely glad the documentary was made and is now available to all.

One of the interviewees quotes Mark Twain in the film, when discussing his own responsibilities as a patriotic citizen. Mr. Twain once said, ""Patriotism means supporting one's country whatever. And the government when it deserves it."
JANA


<< 1 2 3 4 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates