WMD: Weapon of Mass Destruction (2004)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

Earl Grizzell

Writers:

Earl Grizzell (writer)
Ben Heald (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | War

Tagline:

The murderous reign of Saddam Hussein

Plot:

WMD: Weapon of Mass Destruction explores the atrocities of Saddam Hussein and his band of thugs. It asks the question...

Plot Keywords:

Iraq | Saddam Hussein | Weapon Of Mass Destruction | Acronym In Title | Iraq War

Cast

George Bush	...	Himself
Rudolph W. Giuliani	...	Himself
Saddam Hussein	...	Himself
Michael Moore	...	Himself
Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Himself

Runtime:

USA:92 min

Country:

USA | Iraq

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Filming Locations:

Iraq

Company:

Evini Films

The real questions left unanswered

First off, this film tries to bill itself as a "fair and balanced" look at Saddam Hussein in the same way Fox News claims to be "fair and balanced". While the film tries to sell as its main focus, the brutal way Hussein's government dealt with the Kurdish uprising in the late 80s, its real agenda is to argue (and I'm not kidding here) that Saddam himself, is a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Furthermore, the film still attempts to somehow link Hussein to 9/11; which by now has been completely dismissed and discredited by all reliable sources. I assume the director was afraid that we, as Americans, would be more sympathetic to his op/ed piece if some of the blood on Hussein's hands was that of our fellow country men and women.

While no one could seriously argue that the brutality of Hussein towards political opponents, particularly the Kurds, was justified, what the film avoids is the U.S. response while these atrocities were actually being committed. Specifically, the film never asks, "Why did the Reagan & Bush, Sr. administrations adamantly oppose a Senate bill to impose sanctions on Iraq when the killings were discovered?" This bill died in committee with the administration's blessings. Their official concern was the sanctions "would hurt U.S. exporters and worsen our trade deficit" according to then-Assistant Secretary of State, John Kelly.

Fast-forward 16 years later, and after no actual WMD was discovered in Iraq; the original justification for war, the current administration (made of of many of the same people who fought to kill a bill that would have simply imposed sanctions for the atrocities in 1988) decide that, "you know what, that was a pretty bad thing Hussein did 16 years ago." And now you have an instant re-justification for war. Fortunately as polls show, the vast majority of Americans have finally seen through the ruse, leaving only the right-fringe who would argue "day is night; up is down" if they were given the marching orders by this administration.