Joining an event on IMDb's Film Festivals page,I spotted that one of the films was by the journalist who uncovered the full extent of the activates that military contracting firm Blackwater (now called Academi) was involved in the Middle East,which led to me getting ready to find out how dirty wars could be.The outline of the documentary:Learning about a number of raids which have been conducted in Afghanistan by Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) journalist Jeremy Scahill decides to investigate a raid which was to later be called the Khataba raid,where 5 people (including two pregnant women and a teenage girl) were killed by US Army Rangers.Meeting the victim's families in Afghanistan,Scahill soon discovers that it is impossible to get the US gov to admit to any activities in the Middle East.View on the film:Being unable to get insurance for visiting three "troubled" countries (Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia) the footage that director Rick Rowley shoots displays a remarkable clarity,with Rowley allowing the war lords to be clearly seen.Visiting the sights of deadly raids and travelling with war lords,Rowley and Scahill display a real care in making sure that the violent aftermaths are not the focus of the title,with full attention being paid to the survivors of the raids and drone strikes. Inspired by his book Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield, Jeremy Scahill takes centre stage as the "voice" of the film.Whilst his dedication to the subject is easy to see, Scahill sadly appears unwilling to let his interviewees get the full attention,with Rowley firmly positioning the camera in every interview so that Scahill is the most prominent person,which leads to the movie not uncovering the full dirt on the dirty wars.

This is so bad it may as well be fiction. The writer tries to demonize JSOC by digging in to a single raid out of the probably 60,000 raids that JSOC forces have done during the war.The writer uses tactical, short excerpts and clever editing to make his point. My favorite line in the movie was.... "I have been a war corespondent for over 10 years and I had never heard of JSOC before? Who is this mystery army?"Have you been sleeping under a rock for 35 years?? They have a website and even a wikipedia page. There have been movies highlighting their operators for years. (i.e. Lone Survivor, Navy Seals, Blackhawk Down, etc....) If you have really been a war reporter / corespondent.... how could you not know about JSOC unless you are completely inept at your job. As a former member I can tell you.... this movie is 95% fiction. And story tellers like this have the right to spin their stories and exploit isolated events because of the men and women that defend them.And the gullible people that believe these story tellers. You are the civilians that are afforded their protection."People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - George Orwel

The documentary Dirty Wars was an eye opener , and very shocking. Jeremy Scahill did a great job uncovering a kill list, that kept getting larger and larger as people were being murdered by a secretive special operations crew. Innocent people are being killed and American citizens didn't and still don't know about it. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys uncovering government secrets and learning about what goes on in other countries and see how other countries see us as Americans. I was surprised by what the American government wants to do an American citizen. I think this is something schools should be teaching because it will teach our fellow Americans how to be civil, and understand other people point of view.

Testimony after testimony, document after document, who now in the world still believes in this once great nation.Jeremy Scahill, Bill Maher, Michael Moore, and every American citizen who knows the truth about their government, should be ashamed of themselves. They have the power to lead their country in the next revolution, yet they sit on their asses making movies and comedy. Somebody, sometime is going to take down the powers that be in the US, and when that happens, I'm joining.This is obviously a movie that makes you feel something, or confirms the feelings you already have, towards this world terrorizing band of merchants