Review: Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War

This documentary, Uncovered - The Whole Truth About the Iraq War, is a very powerful indictment of the George W Bush administrations actions which led the U.S.A. to invade Iraq in the Spring of 2003. So powerful that as I left Farenheit 9/11, Michael Moore's documentary on the same subject, I wished that Moore had done his movie in the style of Uncovered. However the two movies appeal, and are powerful, on two different levels.

Fahrenheit appeals to the audience at the gut level. Much of that film shows gruesome images of war, and in particular the actual attacks on September 11, 2001 are shown with great cinematic style focusing the viewer on the emotional reactions and overwhelm of the witnesses of that attack. As an emotionally powerful movie, that covers the lies and deceit of the Bush administration, Fahrenheit works very well.

Uncovered covers largely the same material, but focusing on a factual dissection of Bush administration statements versus the verifiable truth. As a factually oriented documentary it is also very powerful. The style is to present two stories that play off one another. Story "A" is the statements by the Bush administration made in the propoganda leadup to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Story "B" is told with interviews of an all-star cast of former Washington insiders each with 15-30 years experience in the Weapons Inspection, Intelligence, Defense and Diplomatic corps. These interviews served as counterpoint to the statements by Bush administration officials, and demonstrate the lies that were said at every turn by these officials.

The documentary was filmed in the summer of 2003, shortly after the invasion of Iraq. Looking back from a years time since it was filmed, some of the interviewees were very prescient in their remarks. One in particular discussed how this attempt to "install democracy" at the point of a gun was very unlikely to succeed, and instead very likely to infuriate the ones we are attempting to democratize, with the likely result that any democratic government in Iraq would likely be exceedingly antagonistic to the U.S.A. and that the whole incident would likely serve only to recruit more soldiers for the terror organizations. Which is exactly what's happened over the past year.

In short, I give this film many thumbs up and urge all American Citizens to see this movie. Especially to do so before November 2, 2004, so that you understand clearly the importance of your vote in the upcoming election.