We're at war

That's what Harvey Keitel replies to Stephen Root's reading of a Fatwa from Bin laden:

The Pretend Richard Clarke:

He hust released a fatwa to his followers, a declaration of Jihad against America."If we cut of the head of America the kingdoms in the Arab world will cease to exist. We must incite guerilla warfare against Israeli and American Interests, not only in Arab and Muslim countries but everywhere in the world. There is no room for negotiation unless and until America converts to Islam." What do you think?

The Pretend John P. O'Neill:

We're at war.

The above scene is posted to youtube by a Kiwi who saw this last nite. There are 9 clips total, posted here. As a courtesy, he offers supers over the video that rebut a few bits and pieces, but it's really a lost cause.

PBS has OBL's 1996 Fatwa Declaration

Here's OBL's feb 23, 98 Jihad Statement

In neither does he say There is no room for negotiation unless and until America converts to Islam.

He does, however, say: stop propping up our feudal systems of royal families or the dictators that you fall in and out of love with. Stop doing that, and get the hell out of our lands. On that, he seems to say there is no negotiation.

Thumbnail synopsis: This is Meth for R-complexes, porn for Anti-Clinton types. And for fundies who get more out of their faith and patriotism when it's "under assault" than by the everyday, humdrum, practice of the thing.

I've seen about 47 minutes worth of clips of this thing--the money shots, if you will. I lost count of the wooden reminders that "We're at war," "Don't they know what war is?", War is not this, it's that; War means never having to say you're sorry, War means get out of my way, War means focus, War means speed, War is etcetera and so on.

We get it already. It's pretty painful to watch 30 or 60 seconds of campaign commercial composed of stiff talking points. But 6 hours? That seems to be what we've got here. The target also seems pretty obvious: "Clear-headed" Americans of Republican or Christian bent who are correct to fear damn dirty liberals and their cowardly ways and their their cowardly laws and their prissy approach to war-fightin and their expert approach to debauchery and moral breakdown. Al Qaeda and their derermination actully come off pretty good. In fact, I'll bet they're quite flattered. They even attribute "balls of steel" to Ramsi Yousef.

The Filmakers don't really question the valor or doctrine of the Muslims from the viewpoint of, say, making them look silly or incompetent. They really are somewhat a-political about it, except when showing Northern Alliance General Al Mashoud as something of a Davy Crockett; brave, straightforward, simple and true. "Are all men in Washington cowards?" Here's where you're supposed to shout "Yesss!*"

(*"Except George and Dick, of course. They 'get' it!")

The movie looks pretty, there is some half-decent camera work and it's scored fairly well. But, as anyone who's been involved in film production will tell you, it's hard to buff a turd. And that's what snazzy production often does: Cover up the lack of an idea or, probably most insidious, make you think you've seen something good; something that hangs together.

Nowrasteh has so much expostion and foreshadowing going on, it's like a primer for 6th Graders--over-explaining the obvious, followed by little wrap-ups of what we'eve just been told, tied together with a punch line designed to elicit gasps: The fabricated bumbling of a "composite" Berger or Albright, framed against a frustrated boyscout-composite of Tenet, FBI or CIA agent/operative who delivers the coup de' grace. The above al Mahsoud "Coward" line is exhibit #42.

We'll see. It starts in a few minutes proper.

More later.