Saw the movie Control Room last night. Quite interesting, editing a bit slapdash. It follows a few al Jazeera reporters, mostly former BBC reporter Hassan Ibrahim, and senior producer Sameer Khader, in the days before and after the start of the war in Iraq. They watch Bush on television. They interview Iraqi men in cafes, they talk to the U.S. millitary spokesmen, the translator laughs as he translates Bush's "mission accomplished" speech from the deck of the USS Abraham.
As the fighting intensifies, al Jazeera shows the dead, the wounded crying babies, the American bombers. They are like the Fox News of the Arab world. Yet, they are also pioneers. There is no precedent in an Arab news organization. The reporters come across as overall optimistic, progressive, and thoughtful, even if at times they are bitter, almost overwhelmed by irony.
Fascinating to see the war through the media of the other side.
Control Room is filed under television (4) movies (11) politics (29) war (2) .
This article is full of fascinating matter-of-fact detail about taking part in a helicopter landing assault in the jungle of Vietnam.
But while the lead platoon was in the air, and the rest of us sat on the PZ, other folks were busy. Up in the "Chuck Chuck", the artillery officer was bringing steel rain down on the new Landing Zone. His job was to saturate the rim around the open field with howitzer fire in an attempt to kill any enemy that might be lying in wait for the incoming helicopters. At a minimum, he would have six 105mm guns firing, and often had more. (An artillery battery was stationed on each fire support base. A battery consisted of six howitzers.) He would be causing hot shrapnel to spray the area. The "LZ prep" would go on for 15 or 20 minutes, and the gun crews would be firing the guns just as fast as they could stuff them with fresh rounds. It was a hellish display of firepower. If you watched an LZ prep, you wondered how anything could possibly live through such an ordeal, but the enemy often did.
A Helicopter-borne Combat Assault in Vietnam is filed under stories (6) war (2) .