I watched Dirty Wars (2013, directed by Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill) last night and thought, "We know its a dirty war, so what's the point of the film?" This might sound flippant in the context of errant killings carried out by our own government, but that's not the context that I'm referring to. I'm referring to the context of the film's narrative which looks at the gray lines of a global war on terror. Unfortunately these areas are no longer gray by the time the film is released. Thanks to brave journalists such as the film's director Jeremy Scahill, these issues have come to the attention of the public. The only gray area that remains is how an ambiguous global war on terror will evolve, or perhaps collapse. This is an interesting question, and perhaps one that deserves more attention in the film. Another question that deserves more attention is, "Who is Jeremy Scahill?" He traveled in the most dangerous red zones of Afghanistan to seek the truth on "dirty" night raids and drone strikes carried out by NATO and U.S. led forces. I wanted to delve deeper into Scahill's state of mind. This happens at times throughout the film, but not enough. In this one, I appreciate the work Scahill has done as an investigative journalist. The film read fine as a news story, but as a documentary film Dirty Wars lacks purpose and emotional connection.

For those of you so willing to vilify our government over things done in war, where is your outrage at the acts of terror done to the soldiers, sailors, airmen, diplomats, students and missionaries done by these savages over the decades? In war things go wrong sometimes. It is not planned that way, it just happens. We don't go in looking to kill civilians, but for some reason you seem to forget the intentional and deliberately gruesome be-headings these people performed on captives and innocents. Having worked in this "field" for many years I can say that while there are inevitable regrets, we never, ever go in with the purpose to do harm to innocents.The fact that so many of you are willing to damn your own government along with the men and women who keep you safe in your cushy beds watching netflicks and twitting your latest "bad day at work" scenario is a sad example of the depths to which our country has sunk. Maybe if you spent more time off facebook and out of starbucks you would have a more realistic view of the world and not believe every film, book, or new commentary that pops up.If you dislike the U.S. so much go live in the mountains of Afghanistan or Iraq with the people you seem to idealize and see how long you last and how long they remain your friends.

Add "Dirty Wars" to the list of movies that make me depressed to be an American.Investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill plunges into the shadowy world of American strategic ops initiatives around the world, and the results, while not exactly surprising, are certainly chilling. What he finds are instances of American forces randomly going into obscure parts of the world and carrying out attacks that are as likely to kill innocent women and children as they are any people actively trying to do America any harm. At the center of these operations is a mysterious military unit about which virtually nothing used to be known, until this same unit carried out the assassination of Osama Bin Laden and elevated itself to hero status in the eyes of the American people.Movies like "Dirty Wars" seem like a necessary evil to me. They bring to light topics that need to be addressed, but at the same time leave me impotently frustrated at my inability to do anything about it.Grade: A-

If not for uncensored news outlets like DEMOCRACY NOW! or LINK TV, most of us wouldn't know a thing about books (and documentaries) like DIRTY WARS. The documentary is genuinely suspenseful and often as painful as a "double tap." (For those who don't know, a "double tap" is when a drone is sent in to kill someone targeted by the U.$. government and a SECOND drone or missile attack is launched at the exact same spot minutes later to kill anyone who has arrived to aid the initial victim.) "America knows war," a U.$.-backed Somali warlord boasts: "They are masters of War." In Virginia and North Carolina, hundreds of millions of gallons of poison (including arsenic) have been accidentally dumped into rivers; the Tar Sands pipeline has been built without "official approval"; the Trans-Pacific Partnership (which has been likened to the disastrous North American Free Trade Agreement "on steroids") is being slipped in through the back door of the Blight House; RADCAST.org reminds us on a daily basis that radiation levels are dangerously high around this company- uh, country; attorney Mike Papantonio gives regular run-downs on the latest Medical malpractices going on worldwide (Tylenol causes liver damage, for instance); there are 8 Million pounds of contaminated beef being recalled (and one local grocery chain is having- get this- a "25% off meat sale"); there's formaldehyde in soft drinks (and all plastics, including packaging); there are new oil spills and fires in Louisiana (we see a string of oil tankers apparently burning in the middle of a clearly visible oil slick); pockets of frozen methane in the Arctic may begin to thaw, ere long, and bring about yet another Extinction Event; between 80,000 and 100,000 protesters turned up at a recent Moral Monday protest here and not one local news outlet mentioned it (not that I saw); millionaires and billionaires (many of whom dressed in drag) met in a closed-door meeting to belittle the poor in this Fascist Plutocracy; the top three causes of Death in this country are 1. Heart Disease 2. Cancer 3. Medical Malpractice (450, 000 cases a YEAR!); undercover footage showing Bubbas in Idaho torturing and- get this- sexually assaulting farm animals in slaughterhouses came to light and suddenly there's a ban on undercover exposes; and only people like Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez and Thom Hartmann and a handful of others free of corporate control bother to try to get the Truth out to us. Listen closely, people. Time's a'wastin'. Or maybe I'm just being para---