Computer Videos

Errol Morris, Standard Operating Procedure

Back


Get the true life story on the atrocities that occurred at Abu Gharib in the early years of the war in Iraq. Director Errol Morris tells the BlackTree TV audience what led him to creating the documentary, and what happened to those prisoners. BlackTree TV goes one on one with Director Errol Morris. Is it possible for a photograph to change the world? Photographs taken by soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison changed the war in Iraq and changed America's image of itself. Yet, a central mystery remains. Did the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs constitute evidence of systematic abuse by the American military, or were they documenting the aberrant behavior of a few "bad apples"? We set out to examine the context of these photographs. Why were they taken? What was happening outside the frame? We talked directly to the soldiers who took the photographs and who were in the photographs. Who are these people? What were they thinking? Over two years of investigation, we amassed a million and a half words of interview transcript, thousands of pages of unredacted reports, and hundreds of photographs. The story of Abu Ghraib is still shrouded in moral ambiguity, but it is clear what happened there. The Abu Ghraib photographs serve as both an expose and a coverup. An expose, because the photographs offer us a glimpse of the horror of Abu Ghraib; and a coverup because they convinced journalists and readers they had seen everything, that there was no need to look further. In recent news reports, we have learned about the destruction of the Abu Zubaydah interrogation tapes. A coverup. It has been front page news. But the coverup at Abu Ghraib involved thousands of prisoners and hundreds of soldiers. We are still learning about the extent of it. Many journalists have asked about "the smoking gun" of Abu Ghraib. It is the wrong question. As Philip Gourevitch has commented, Abu Ghraib is the smoking gun. The underlying question that we still have not resolved, four years after the scandal: how could American values become so compromised that Abu Ghraib—and the subsequent coverup—could happen? http://www.blacktree.tv

Category: Film
Uploaded: May 30th, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
Author: blacktreemedia

Length: 09:26
Rating: Whole StarWhole StarWhole StarWhole StarHalf Star
Views: 3,024

Tags: abu american bush general george gharib insurgents iraq patraeus rumsfield soldiers torture war waterboarding

Related Video Links:


» View Video Comments For Errol Morris, Standard Operating Procedure
» View blacktreemedia's Other Uploaded Videos

Video Thumbnails:


Thumbnail #1 Video Thumbnail #1:
Thumbnail #2 Video Thumbnail #2:
Thumbnail #3 Video Thumbnail #3:


Video Embedding Code:


Video Url:


Embed Code:

* Embed this video on your website, social bookmark, myspace, or blog.