Hidden Wars in the Middle East

Alternative title

Hidden Wars of Desert Storm

Synopsis

A documentary offering insights about the history of Western involvement in the Middle-East, about the situation that led to the Gulf war after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, about the hidden US political agenda behind the ongoing embargo strangling the population of Iraq and also about Gulf War Syndrome that is plaguing both veterans and local populations. Covers facts and propaganda behind Washington’s war in Iraq.

On August 2nd, 1990, Saddam Hussein launched his troops against Kuwait, triggering the first major international crisis of the post-Soviet Union era. But was this invasion a surprise in the first place? Were all diplomatic means really utilized to try to resolve the issue peacefully? Was there any threat from the part of Iraq against Saudi Arabia or against any of the other Gulf states? Why wasn’t Washington’s rhetoric against Saddam ever matched by any real support to the Iraqi opposition groups? What purpose can the embargo over Iraq serve if it is not to weaken Saddam Hussein, a result it has evidently failed to achieve to this day? What is true behind this mysterious "Gulf War Syndrome" that goes on affecting hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans and local populations and more and more of them every day?

Following a two-year investigation, this video attempts to answer these questions, based on declassified documents and interviews with such prominent personalities as Desert Storm Commander General Norman Schwarzkopf, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, former UN Iraq Program Director Denis Halliday, former UNSCOM team-leader Scott Ritter and many others. Contains a large selection of archival footage and moving images recently brought back from Iraq. Accompanied by an original soundtrack by Fritz Heede and narrated by John Hurt.

NB An 8 1/2-hour interview and footage compilation of the original uncut interviews plus other material are available separately, in NTSC format, direct from Free-Will Productions.

Language

English

Country

United States

Year of release

2003

Year of production

2000

Documentation

Related website www.hiddenwars.org

Subjects

Politics & government

Keywords

Gulf War (1990-1991); Hussein, Saddam; Iraq; Middle East; propaganda; United States of America; uranium - depleted

Distribution Formats

Type

VHS

Format

PAL

Price

£14.99 (sale) £7.00 + £20 deposit hire (OPC)

Availability

Sale Hire

Duration/Size

60 minutes

Year

2003

Sections

Title

Hidden wars in the Middle East

Title

8 1/2-hour Source material compilation

Synopsis

Separately available (direct from Free-Will Productions in NTSC format, cost $20 + shipping) is an 8-and-a-half hour compilation of some of the most informative interviews and footage gathered during the research for HIDDEN WARS. These interviews are uncut and some are not even featured in the actual documentary for lack of space. Also included are DOD-commissioned training videos on depleted uranium that were never actually shown to the troops (or to the public). The interviews included are with:
Ramsey Clark, former US Attorney General (on the development of the Gulf War and the impact of sanctions on the Iraqi population); Denis Halliday, former UN Iraq Program Director (on the impact and illegality of the embargo; Phyllis Bennis, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Political Studies, DC (on how the US Gov. dictates their will to the UN Security Council); Scott Ritter, former UN Weapons Inspectors team-leader in Iraq (on US Gov.'s manipulation of the weapon inspections for spying and initiation of bombing campaigns); Michel Haj, senior journalist, television producer from Jordan (on insights about how Bush Sr spared Saddam Hussein’s regime and let him quell rebellions that might have toppled him); Dr. Labib Kamhawi, former President of the Jordanian Human-Rights Assoc. (on particulars about how the embargo is controled by the US Gov. and how it impacts Iraq’s civil society); Dr. Nassira Sadoum, Dir. of the Gulf War Remembrance Museum in Baghdad (on the widespread sufferings afflicting the Iraqis with interesting remarks on Washington’s manipulative foreign policy);
Several Iraqi doctors from hospitals in both Baghdad and Basra (this part is devoted mostly to the impact on the Iraqi population of malnutrition and shortages in medical supplies).

The second part of the tape focuses on the use by the Pentagon of radioactive ammunitions made of depleted uranium. The interviews selected feature: Paul Sullivan, then Pres. of the National Gulf War Ressource Center (on depleted uranium, its health and environmental impact and on the US Gov.'s pattern of neglecting sick veterans);
Dan Fahey, Gulf War Vets advocate and editor of "The Military Toxic Project" report on US toxic weaponry (on history of DU weapon-development and cover-ups by the Pentagon) followed by the accounts of two sick Gulf War veterans plus Q&A during the 2000 Gulf War Veterans National Organizing conference in Las Vegas;
Doug Rokke, physicist hired by the Pentagon to conduct on-the-ground radiation-tests in Kuwait after the war and then commissioned to produce DU training videos for the US military (on depleted uranium, DU weapons, technicalities and toxicity) - Doug Rokke, an outspoken, respectable scientist is now in hiding after anonymous threats were made to him in 2001.

These interviews are followed by two of Doug Rokke’s training videos which give a clear picture of DU and of what the Pentagon really knew about DU despite their silence and denial (These videos were never shown either to the troops or the public for fear of triggering panic and outrage) and a visit of cancer-wards with Iraqi doctors (on the contamination of populations exposed to low-level radiations after the war NB : some images of malformed children are very disturbing).

Production Company

Name

Free-Will Productions

Email

freewillprod@freewillprod.com

Web

http://www.hiddenwars.org/ External site opens in new window

Address

PO Box 5476
N Hollywood
CA 91616
USA

Publisher

Name

Terra Entertainment

Distributor (Hire)

Name

Of Public Concern

Email

ericwalker@gn.apc.org

Phone

01473 717088

Address

Nacton
Ipswich
!P10 0LA

Distributor (Sale)

Name

Quantum Leap

Notes

The company ceased trading in 2018. It was previously a distributor and online retailer specialising in non-fiction DVD titles on a wide variety of subjects, particularly in the areas of music instruction, music performance, sport instruction, and health. Some titles also available through retail outlets.

 

Available from retail outlets