Generation kill and House of Saddam

Generation Kill is the new HBO-series based on Rolling Stone's reporter Evan Wright's articles and book. Wright was embedded with the Marines of First Recon Battalion, following the initial phase of the Iraqi invasion as the First Recon made its way from Kuwait, through Basra, and finally into Baghdad.

I'm usually not a big fan of contemporary war movies and series. Seen the movie "Jar Head" from the first Gulf war? The movie is a collection of pieced-together music videos, where almost every scene is accompanied by some soundtrack picked out to make the marines "look cool", or war look "meaningless" or "brutal" in the eyes of the viewer.

This is not true of Generation Kill. Throughout six of seven episodes, the only music heard are the tunes sung by the soldiers themselves while driving their Humvees, plus some Arabic pop music played in the streets by locals. The final episode features an original Johnny Cash track. This small but significant fact sets the standard for the whole series, as it is the dialogue and characters that carry the weight here. The whole thing feels authentic and nuanced.

But be warned; Generation Kill will anger and vex you in the extreme. Is it possible to make more mistakes when invading a country? There are good Marines and bad Marines. There are even Marines who are brilliant (like Sgt. Brad Colbert). Unluckily, it's the bad, even psychopathic and incompetent, who are in charge of this war.

This is proven by the almost surreal mismanagement of Saddam city, the Shiite district who now goes by the name of Sadr city (named after the dead Shiite leader Muhammad Sadiq al Sadr). Having finally reached Baghdad, First Recon is put in charge of securing and patrolling Saddam city. This part of town is plagued with looting, nighttime robberies and vigilante executions. In addition, the supply of clean water and electricity is below insufficient. The Marines of First Recon, some of whom genuinely want to help the inhabitants of Saddam city, are constantly relocated from neighborhood to neighborhood. They are not allowed to return to the neighborhood they visited and made promises to the day before.They are not allowed to do night patrols to stop the nighttime attacks on Iraqi citizens. They cannot perform the simple task of handing out clean water to the Iraqis. Bear in mind that the battalion has carried out the whole invasion with only one interpreter, a highly unprofessional one at that. Further more, at least according to Wright's book, knowledge generated from speaking to locals and operating "on the ground" is not allowed to move upwards in the chain of command; the commanding officers show a persistent disregard for insight offered by lower officers or other personnel. And we all know how Saddam city turned out.

In short, the seven episodes make up a seven-hour long cabaret of unbelievable, inconceivable stupidity. Nonetheless, the series offers the satisfaction of seeing offending Marines "named and shamed". I personally hope Captains Dave McGraw and Craig Schewtje are watching.

HBO and BBC’s joint venture, the four-episode long "House of Saddam", is a bit more disappointing. We follow Saddam from 1979, when he became president of Iraq, and until he is hanged in 2006. Despite being entertaining, the show is superficial and not least biased with regard to which events are included and excluded. The episode about the 1991 Gulf war elegantly skips the aftermath: how the Shia in the south and the Kurds in the north, after repeated Western encouragement in various forms, rebelled against Saddam, expecting Western support. None came, and Saddam’s retaliation was swift and brutal. To fail to mention this deceit in a series about Saddam is downright disrespectful toward the people that actually tried to get rid of him a decade before the US decided it was time. Also, the show is superficial because of its extremely narrow focus. Make it ten episodes instead of four, and include what went on in Iraq besides Uday and Qusay’s crime ventures or Saddam’s love life, and maybe the series could have been more watch-worthy. While I’m not sure that this show was created merely for propagandist purposes, I can’t really think why it was created. Although mildly entertaining, it’s not that entertaining. So, be advised: go for Generation Kill this season.