Another Disturbing Look at Abu Ghraib

Standard Operating Procedure
Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by Errol Morris
5 Tablespoons of Bosco

The events surrounding the Abu Ghraib prison debacle don't get any easier to fathom in director Errol Morris's newest documentary "Standard Operating Procedure". SOP is the latest documentary to try to sort through the mess. While it covers much of the ground as other docs on the same subject, there are still way too many unanswered questions.

This documentary is told without a narrator. Morris's interviewed subjects tell the story very well and show the wear and tear of the incident. The interviews are interlaced with powerful and stylistic recreated images along with the very disturbing actual video and photos. The subjects are edited in jump format which draws you even more to the subject.

Morris won an Oscar for his 2003 documentary on Robert McNamara and Vietnam called "The Fog of War". This film is so well done that it should garner him at least another consideration.

The biggest question is why did this incident ever see the light of day? The simple answer is because of a left-biased Dan Rather and his news organization intent on bringing down the Bush administration and his policies on the Iraq war. But there are far more horrible attrocities and torture going on that are never shown because there are no cameras present. We will probably never know how bringing this to the public attention through documentaries and exposes like this fueled the hatred of the enemy toward Americans and their allies.

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco