Review of Doomsday Gun

This is an old film that came out in 1994. It was direct propaganda from the Democrats against the Republicans and Bush Senior who had been defeated by Clinton in 1992. As such it revealed the very obscure and twisted policies the United States of Reagan and Bush Senior had had towards Iraq, Iran, Israel and the Middle East in general, not to speak of the world. But what meaning can it have in 2007? In retrospect it shows how the US produced their own enemy and made him as strong as strong could be, how they helped him embezzle enormous sums of money in order to pay for some armament projects that were totally out of proportion but very good for business. And then they had to have a first war to force him out of Kuwait, and then they decided to have a second war to oust him out of power. And they had to lie to the whole world to justify their unilateral decision to invade Iraq. And that war that was supposed to be a joyride because they knew there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction and hence the Iraqis could not resist them, has turned into a nightmare and a quagmire that is swallowing the US like a quicksand trap in the middle of their only way. The Indians and Sinhalas have an interested saying about how an elephant cannot escape from drowning in a pool of mud as soon as they have dipped their first foot in it. If the film demonstrates something it is that when you lie, when you embezzle, when you manipulate people or events or circumstances or whatever, sooner or later you have to pay the bill and foot the expenses. Unluckily the price is paid by the Americans first of all, then by the Iraqis particularly the civilians, and finally by the whole world that is forced into dangerous situations that could and should have been avoided. This film's meaning has completely changed from 1994 with Bush Senior as its intended target to Bush Junior as an unintended circumstantial target. But one element is still true and unchanged: the US have been fishing in very muddy waters over the last twenty years or so and the price to pay will be unimaginably high for everyone.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne