Subrosablonde wrote:
I was hoping you would comment on this programme Richard. My own thoughts were that it was put together from a series of news clips, all enhanced by commenters who have their own agendas. Nevertheless, I shall watch the other two programmes to ensure my opinion is valid.
Yes, you could be right - but it is sloppily done. I'm doing the same ... waiting until it's done, although my first impressions are not favourable. Crucially, I don't think they should be telling the story in the way they are doing it - dealing with the north and the south together. The one was a Sunni insurgency, latterly supported by al Qaeda, the other was a Shi'a affair, with very different dynamics. Both are framed in terms of being a reaction to the presence of the occupier, which has elements for the truth, but which is far too simplistic. Moqtada al Sadr, who only latterly became the driving force for the nationalist Shi's insurgency, was seeking to take over the country and, inasmuch as the "occupier" was a barrier to that ambition, they came under attack. Asking British commentators what was going on, though, is fraught. The problem at the time was that they did not know what was happening under their noses and misread the political situation. They are still doing it, but now largely to conceal their own incompetence.
