On the Sunday following Sept. 11, 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney told the truth. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he said regarding plans to pursue the perpetrators of that attack: “We have to work the dark side, if you will. We’re going to spend time in the shadows.” The grim, deadly consequences of his promise have, in the intervening six years, become the shame of our nation and have outraged millions around the world. President George Bush and Cheney, many argue, have overseen a massive global campaign of kidnapping, illegal detentions, harsh interrogations, torture and kangaroo courts where the accused face the death penalty, confronted by secret evidence obtained by torture, without legal representation.
Cheney’s shadows saw a moment of sunlight recently, as Alex Gibney won the Academy Award for the Best Documentary Feature for his film “Taxi to the Dark Side.” The film traces the final days of a young Afghan man, Dilawar (many Afghans use just one name), who was arrested in 2001 by the U.S. military and brought to the hellish prison at Bagram Air Base. Five days later, Dilawar was dead, beaten and tortured to death by the United States military. Gibney obtained remarkable eyewitness accounts of Dilawar’s demise from the very low-level soldiers who beat him to death. We see the simple village that was his lifelong home and hear from people there how Dilawar had volunteered to drive the taxi, which was an important source of income for the village.
Dilawar had never spent the night away from home. His first sleepover was spent with arms shackled overhead, subjected to sleep and water deprivation, receiving regular beatings, including harsh knee kicks to the legs that would render his legs “pulpified.” He had been fingered as a participant in a rocket attack on the Americans, by some Afghans who were later proved to be the attackers themselves. Gibney uses the tragic story of Dilawar to open up a searing and compelling indictment of U.S. torture policy from Bush and Cheney, through Donald Rumsfeld and the author of the infamous “torture memo,” now-University of California Berkeley law professor John Yoo.
The Oscar ceremony was bereft of serious mention of the war, until Gibney rose to accept his award. He said: “Thank you very much, Academy. Here’s to all doc filmmakers. And, truth is, I think my dear wife Anne was kind of hoping I’d make a romantic comedy, but honestly, after Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, extraordinary rendition, that simply wasn’t possible. This is dedicated to two people who are no longer with us: Dilawar, the young Afghan taxi driver, and my father, a Navy interrogator who urged me to make this film because of his fury about what was being done to the rule of law. Let’s hope we can turn this country around, move away from the dark side and back to the light. Thank you very much.”
“Taxi to the Dark Side” can be seen in movie theaters, and the Oscar will surely help open it up to more audiences. Gibney got a surprise, though, from the Discovery Channel, the television network that had bought the TV rights to the film. He told me: “Well, it turns out that the Discovery Channel isn’t so interested in discovery. I was told a little bit before my Academy Award nomination that they had no intention of airing the film, that new management had come in and they were about to go through a public offering, so it was probably too controversial for that. They didn’t want to cause any waves. It turns out Discovery turns out to be the see-no-evil/hear-no-evil channel.”
The Discovery Channel is owned by John Malone, the conservative mogul who owns Liberty Media, one of the largest media corporations on the planet. Malone is famous for his complex business deals that involve spinning off media properties with stock offerings that net him millions. He also has just gotten approval to swap his extensive stock holdings in News Corp., Rupert Murdoch’s empire, for control of Murdoch’s DirecTV satellite television system. When Discovery told Gibney they would not be airing “Taxi to the Dark Side,” Malone and Murdoch were awaiting approval for the DirecTV deal from the Bush administration’s Federal Communications Commission. (It was approved on Monday, the day after the Oscars.)
HBO managed to buy the television rights to “Taxi to the Dark Side,” so the film will find its way to those households that subscribe to premium TV channels. As Discovery wrote to a critical member of the public, “In its first pay-TV window, HBO will debut the film in September 2008. We are proud that ‘Taxi to the Dark Side’ will make its basic cable debut in 2009 on Investigation Discovery.” So Discovery will show “Taxi” on one of its smaller side channels, after the election, after its business with the Bush administration is wrapped up.
In the meantime, films like “Taxi to the Dark Side” and Phil Donahue’s excellent Iraq war documentary, “Body of War,” have to fight for distribution. Let’s hope that Gibney’s Oscar will help open the theaters and the TV airwaves to these truly consciousness-raising films to turn this country away from the dark side and back to the light.
Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 650 stations in North America.
Click here to watch Truthdig’s interview with Alex Gibney.
© 2008 Amy Goodman
… after the election. The NYT would agree with not informing the public before an election. Information will only hurt Republicans.
kathyodat
I took myself to see this movie after listening to (pre Oscar) radio segments on Pacifica radio, so I was prepared to see some of the horror of torture. What I was unprepared for was the full frontal faces of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Bush, Rice, Ashcroft, Gonzales, etc. So beware - these peoples’ faces, mouthing their scripts. so close you can see their nose pores, is another nausea producing part of this movie. I was enraged and heartbroken, again, and I don’t know what to do. Mr. Gibney expressed his feelings on getting the Oscar. on Democracy Now. Would that SOMETHING cracks the nightmare we live in. I now believe, as do others here, that the full Congress is either unwilling or impotent to do anything. Don’t get popcorn.
sansf,
Congress is complicit in the war crimes.
Where the hell are we going? What the hell is wrong with us? Is money the great motivator? Power is ceretainly a segment of the whole picture. But it all comes down to DOMINANCE. It is the greatest force on this earth and only a few know how to use it. Now the question is, how do you deal with DONINANCE? Who are the challengers? Who or what gains the most from this phenomenon?
It would seem to me that accountability must and in all cases, good or abusive, be used on those who should be questioned, then lauded or punished.
So be it!
With all due respect to Amy Goodman’s brilliant and altruistic work as a REAL investigative journalist, I have my doubts that it is possible to “turn this country away from the dark side and back to the light.”
Perhaps I am splitting hairs, but this country has never been anywhere in the vicinity of “the light”.
Imperialism and related crimes against humanity designed to sustain a mindless material Babylon began in 1492 and have never stopped.
But while on the subject of “torture” (which of course does not include water boarding according to many in Washington) I seem to recall there are a lot of beautiful public fountains in our glorious national capital.
There should be enough room for a mass “water board-in” !
We could gently immerse members of the Whitehouse, Congress, The Pentagon, Big Oil and military complex CEOs and lobbyists in a baptism of truth. The simple question would be why are you killing people and trying to steal things ? When we are done with them we can start in on the corporate media and possibly the Supreme Court and others.
Overcoming our national denial is the first baby step in the direction of approaching “the light”.
And so, we climbed into the cab and allowed ourselves and our country to be taken for a ride and driven to hell by a group of drivers who don’t even have a driver’s license — let alone driving skills.
Bottom line? At this point, the real conversation is who are we and what will be do about it?
And ‘Taxi…’ only hits the tip of iceberg.
Make a point of befriending a returning Iraqi or Afghan veteran and listen to what they have done while on their multitudinous tours of duty ‘in our name’. Many are relieved to get some of their shameful acts ‘off their chests’.
I guarantee you - if you got nauseous about the movie, you’ll throw up when you hear how the platitudes of the war criminals in the movie are getting carried out at the bottom of the chain of command - IN OUR NAME.
Our Titanic has gone down. The only thing to cling to, the only thing left to keep us from being sucked down into the cold black water, is the Constitution. If you feel you are in the taxi and you are unsure of what’s right or how things should be, read the Constitution. That is the way things are meant to be here. It contains the blueprint of America.
Iraq Veterans Against the War are going to hold a Winter Soldier conference March 16-19 in Washington, DC.
They are going to testify about the horrors of war, and their personal experiences, similar to the Vietnam Vets testimony.
http://ivaw.org/index.php
We need to support the courageous soldiers who are willing to fight the propaganda that keeps so many Americans willing to support the war.
As much as I want Gibney to be compensated for his original idea, hard work and artistry, “Taxi to the Dark Side” should be on U-Tube or other web-site offering free downloads and an associated web-log.
Every person, not just the few who can afford to go to the movies (my nearest movie theater is 90 miles away) or afford a TV and HBO, should see and then discuss it afterwards with their fellow citizens. Movie theaters and private viewings do not allow such discourse.
curmudgeon99 wrote: Make a point of befriending a returning Iraqi or Afghan veteran and listen … Many are relieved to get some of their shameful acts ‘off their chests’.
Sometimes. I have a family member who is a very proud, and highly decorated SEAL who was on the fast-track of promotion. After 1 tour in Iraq, he refused to return so now he is teaching ROTC in Bumf**k Kentucky. He will not talk to anyone about his experiences other than to show pictures of himself hanging with generals.
the torture and all of it, they’re all about keepin’ that bubble up.
A good friend of mine has a son who spent a year in Afghanistan in the Army special forces. The Army desperately wanted him to return after his tour, he refused, and will not talk to anyone about his experiences. Once an outgoing, charismatic kid is now a reticent, bitter, and angry young man who is obviously trying to suppress some dark memories.
Please Please, exercise patience with those who remain quiet. It’ll take them longer to recover.
It may be because they are afraid they will be judged badly.
This film is playing in my town this weekend as part of the True/False Indie film festival. It has sold out so I am hopeful that the word will get out about it and more people will be exposed to it. If you have film festivals in your town, talk to the planners about this film.
http://www.truefalse.org/program/index.htm
I hear you curmudgeon99, the kid I referred to has moved away from his home town, mainly I think to get away from his mom who was shocked and saddened by his transformation and was trying desperately to get him help. He’s a bright kid and I think will pull through, but it’s sad to see the pain.
This is a little off the subject, but has anyone else noticed the sudden use of the absolutely useless phrase, “If you will…” Cheney uses it often, so one would think that any moderately intelligent person would avoid it like the plague. Instead, it’s all over the place. CNN commentators, among others, sort of throw it around gratutitously.
“It looks like we might be in for another unusual storm, if you will.” “Doctors are prescribing mood enhancers in a way that could be thought of as excessive, if you will.” “Our legistlators are in an indecisive quandry, if you will.”
Jeez! “If you will” what?
Anyway, great article from Ms. Goodman, as usual. The Iraq fiasco is tragic, and the entire world has suffered from the hubris, jingoism, and aggression of the American government.
Cheney came out of his hole today, saw his shadow, and declared 6 more years of fascism
LeeAnnG - Yes, I have noticed it! Yesterday Terry Gross on NPR talking about the new movie, Chicago 10. I hear it daily (I am a radio junkie who works from home). Invasion of the Body Snatchers comes to mind, no?
WTF - I agree. By the time I looked for In the Valley of Elah, it was gone, so as soon as I saw Taxi here in S.F., I went. There were 3 of us in the theater, albeit a very tiny low budget theater. These films should be on the net.
We, the people, know what is happening, know that the wool is being pulled over our eyes, know we are being sold a crock but the real question is: what’re we going to do about it?
We can complain of course on forums like this but other than making us feel better it achieves nothing. The people who are pulling our strings continue to do so and are hold us in contempt.
I guess the pigs in Animal Farm would’ve won if the other animals hadn’t got together and stood up to them. Seems there’s a message in that somewhere!
www.dangerouscreation.com
We may rant here, but here is where I solidify and try out my ideas. I have the power of all you when I debate matters with others! Thanks Bill
JConrad 1:44 may, unfortunately have it right. America has been on the dark side for a long, long time. Without knowing about this history you can’t fix the future. Go to
www.amoralamerica.info
free download.
I’m swearing off the Discovery Channel, and getting rid of DirectTV. I simply won’t provide my money to those who hold such views, and command such influence through media channels.
As to the comments about returning veterans, do all you can to encourage them to access counseling through the VA’s Healthcare System. Just last night I attended a talk by a VA Psychiatrist about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is common for all military conflicts, but is especially pronounced for our current group of veterans.
As a Veterans’ Services Officer I work with veterans from all conflicts, with many in my area from World War II who still have nightmares, and suffer from the “physical injury” that is PTSD. It actually impacts the brain, biophysically, with medical/scientific research to support that finding.
Even if all you can do is listen . . . do it! And try to support their return, recovery and healing.
There are so many comments, in response to this and other CD articles, which resonate with me. What has become of our nation . . . of our world? How did it come to this? And how do we instill and sustain decency and respect for our existence as a global human community?
#
canuckchuck February 28th, 2008 4:43 pm
Cheney came out of his hole today, saw his shadow, and declared 6 more years of fascism
++++++++++++++++
Thank you for the laugh of the day, canuckchuck.
Comedy relief is so welcome in the midst of this long-running tragedy, except, unfortunately, your joke may be the truth.
What has become of our nation . . . of our world? How did it come to this? And how do we instill and sustain decency and respect for our existence as a global human community?Tennegon February 28th, 2008 9:09 pm
Well alot of fools voted to place a richer, selfish, mindless idiot in charge of things and allowed Darth Cheney to pull the strings. This “war” was about the thieves getting rich through no bid contracts, looting the treasury and stealing Iraq’s oil.
The rest of the world forgave a stupid America in 2000 but withdrew in disgust when Dumya was elected a second time.
The only way to fix it is to vote intelligently in ‘08 and I don’t mean McBomb the war monger.
Obama is the best choice to heal America’s wounds if you can overcome the rednecks who “just can’t vote for a brother”. Blind Fauxnews stupidity at its finest!!!
” If you feel you are in the taxi and you are unsure of what’s right or how things should be, read the Constitution. That is the way things are meant to be here. It contains the blueprint of America.”
You are correct. We also had a presidential candidate who would have stood by the Constitution as has been proven by his voting record in the House of Representitives. Ron Paul is that person and he was blown off as another run of the mill republican. What a shame.
Thanks greenerthanthou, as a USAF Vet Disabled honorably discharged, 75-77, I was lucky enough because I belong to many Vets groups, VETS FOR PEACE, support and donate to IVAW, I mentioned ‘WINTER SOLDIER II’ testimony last week due to the fact that as per quorum, Vet bashing aside, someone was all aglow at that week of protests. What is necessary that week for these brave men and women is lots of respect, SSHHHH from the 16th at noon through the 19th in the eve, in showing them solidarity for their bravery we should remain silent and not protest in movement or loud voices, this is indeed solemn. Almost every group has joined the IVAW in their request, a few dissadents, but F$$K them, it will only be a few hundred people. The testimony costs each Vet or Active Duty, yep they’re showing up, $1200 each day to sit. To tell TRUTH to this immoral country they have to pay over and over. Donations would really help, IVAW.org, give whatever you can, your time, transportstion, so forth. The testimony will not be in DC, threats and such, but we will be live steaming it everywhere. IVAW will march from Independence Hall to Valley Forge, 25 miles, this Saturday, we will follow and march the last 2 miles with them. I know the cost because Col. Ann Wright told me a few weeks back what the price would be, I tend to believe a sister Vet about these things. If anyone lives in or near Philly and wants to support the IVAW, meet at the mall at Independence Hall, do not wear any Peace type things, anti-war shirts, only an IVAW purchased shirt or a sweatshirt with your branch of the service on it, USAF, ARMY, MARINES, NAVY, this is to avoid negative publicity and the wrath, which will be with violent intent this time, of counter-protesters. Time, by 9:15 AM.
I cannot forget Rummy at a Press conference, reporter asked something about being involved in a quagmire in Iraq, Rumsfeld looks at the reporter, leans forward on the podium, says, “I don’t do QUAGMIRES.” Shit eating grin on his face, I s’pose he may have been wrong. I cried through that entire Doc, what did we do? What do we continue to do? It is horrifying and tragic, so shameful, so shameful.
Their is an evil afoot in man..So, what shall we do? Stop taking the taxi. Stop paying the driver? These are question each one of us could be asking seriously of ourselves.
Oh, how far the taxi as gone! How far it will go,is up to each one of us to decide when we make that decision to get in or let it drive by.
Great idea, Frank Lieb!
A mass waterboarding in the fountains of D.C.
Steal a page from the Rev Moon, but remember that in France when someone was guillotined in the public square, the pickpockets had a field day!
Hmmm. So this was The Bush Administrations objective at the end of the day.
Off with their heads!
I wonder how many of the detainees at Guantonomo and god-knows-where-else are Dilawars?—Innocent people fingered by members of the northern alliance, drug dealers, and assorted warlords and gangsters? The stupidity of the “war on terror” will cause more blowback and attacks that may make 9/11 seem ordinary. If you want to create the level of desperation in people to make them into suicide bombers, then torturing the innocent is a good place to start.
Please, please support Iraq Veterans Against the War - look for live broadcasts of the Winter Soldier hearings - they start Thursday, March 13th and go through Sunday, March 16th. Go to www.ivaw.org for more information!
IVAW needs your help - forward the information to everyone you know and please help them with donations so they can get all the veterans to DC who wish to testify.
Thanks!
The title “Taxi to the Dark Side” immediately puts me in mind of a well-regarded 1981 movie entitled “Taxi zum Klo”.
I never saw it myself, but I still remember Roger Ebert explaining that the title translated as “Taxi to the Toilet”.
It could’ve been recycled for the atrocities revealed in this film.
WTF, you wrote, “After 1 tour in Iraq, he refused to return so now he is teaching ROTC in Bumf**k Kentucky.”
This of course makes no sense at all. Please elucidate.
He was ALLOWED to leave Iraq after one hour?
And he was so dismayed by what he saw that he is now teaching people to be officers in a renegade military?
None of this makes any sense.
People can “demonstrate” and “march” until they are blue in the face. Nothing will change. You know what needs to happen and so do I. So far I have not had the courage to proceed. And neither have you. But the time may come. Who knows? How much more shit are we willing to eat?
Kent Shaw — Please consider that the marching and demonstrating are but the outward appearances of those of us who have not given up, and who do believe with positive certainty, that this can be turned around non-violently.
I was seething and raging to myself, not too long ago, before I realized that doing so would only create (my own and others) bad will, feelings of separation, ill-health, poverty, and depression were on that path for me. I didn’t include physical violence, as that was previously (and still now), not on the table - whereas verbal abuse was previously (but is no longer tolerated).
This forum provide the antidote, with love, connection, good-will, common_dreaming (duh !), and more.
Please do consider, that sometimes we may be our own worst enemy - regardless of that massively WMD war criminal stooge incompetent_in_thief running the business of death and suffering world wide.
Namaste
… … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … & … ML King … … Inspiration … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed »
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — MLK
amy goodman,
thank you for being the harbinger of mixed messages
(indy director receiving award for horrific crimes).
“President George Bush and Cheney, many argue, have overseen a massive global campaign of kidnapping, illegal detentions, harsh interrogations, torture and kangaroo courts where the accused face the death penalty, confronted by secret evidence obtained by torture, without legal representation.”
may those responsible be held, tried and convicted in international courts of justice.
namaste - thanks for the solution to our crisis. shalom. may your grandchildren’s, grandchildren’s, grandchildren be blessed….
…peace……………………
Amy Goodman wrote: “He had been fingered as a participant in a rocket attack on the Americans, by some Afghans who were later proved to be the attackers themselves.”
So we’ve become as dumb as the prosecutors who, just to put a notch on their belt, use mob informants to convict small fry or innocent people, helping the Mafia heads and drug lords get rid of their enemies and stay out of jail themselves on our dime. Eventually, unless we leave on our own, the Afghanis will force us our of their country, as will the Iraqis, and hopefully someone will write the true history of these twin debacles, and the unimaginable stupidity of torturing and killing innocent civilians that led to them hating us so much.
Frank Lieb, it’s just raw power — power for power’s sake and the truly perverted among us have to prove they have power by torturing others and making them do what offends them. It’s strange that anyone identified as having a mental condition such as bipolar disorder or clinical depression would never have a chance of being elected president, yet sociopathic powermongers are lauded for their ‘leadership.’
LOL, CanuckChuck. Seriously, I think the big Dick will be retiring to his estate in Dubai following the next election. The royals who run the country won’t extradite him for trial.
Comanches were good at torture; perhaps we could draw on their techniques.
People who join the armed forces are not joining armless forces. They expect to kill. They aren’t innocents.
Brevity — Perhaps as you say our troops should “… expect to kill.”
As they say - don’t blame the players - blame the game, as it is our system of government that has failed us.
The troops are naturally going to follow certain actions upon the illegitimate directions of illegal and fascist despots — although Geneva conventions always apply and are the legal law of the land — regardless of Geo the inferior’s posterior’s protestations.
Namaste