Valley of the Wolves:Iraq the new Turkish movie
On July 4, 2003, in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq, troops from the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade raided and ransacked a Turkish special forces office, threw hoods over the heads of 11 Turkish special forces officers, and held them in custody for more than two days.
The Americans said they had been looking for Iraqi insurgents and unwittingly rounded up the Turks because they were not in uniform. Still, the incident damaged Turkish-U.S. relations and hurt Turkish national pride. Turks traditionally idolize their soldiers; most enthusiastically send their sons off for mandatory military service.
In the new movie just released in Turkey, one of the Turkish special forces officers commits suicide to save his honor. His farewell letter reaches Polat Alemdar, an elite Turkish intelligence officer who travels to northern Iraq with a small group of men to avenge the humiliation. The Turkish squad do exact vengeance on the American troops who attacked the Turkish officers and perpetrated a series of other violent and rogue acts against Iraqis.
The movie is purportedly doing a landoffice business, selling out seatings in a country that has traditionally been our ally. I guess one response would be to say, "It's only a movie." However, I think that there is more to be pondered here. When Charles Bronson and Sylvester Stallone made their 'vengeance' movies, the sentiments expressed articulated the feelings and attitudes of many frustrated people, people afraid of crime and criminals and the faceless, numberless, cruel guerilla forces out in the world. Perhaps these movies provided a release for those audiences, allowing them to purge themselves of their own violence so that the social upheaval of masses of people exercising a "death wish" or becoming "Rambo" never happened. Or perhaps the social attitudes held by such folks were reinforced, making them more willing to applaud or permit the perceived act of righteous vengeance. We don't know. One might point to a decline in violent crime statistics in the US and say that is an indicator that could point to catharsis. Certainly, following Sept 11th, the idea of engaging in 'just vengeance' was validated and perhaps a willingness existed to be less discerning about who the target was. We just don't know. However, neither perspective is very reassuring.
Would it be a good thing to think that the Turks, justly angered at some of the actions taken by their ostensible allies, were being cozened into abandoning their anger through the vehicle of popular entertainment allowing them to fantasize about a
rough but sure justice? Would it be a good thing to think that the Turks, longstanding and loyal supporters of many western values in a sea of Islamic ferment, were so angered that this movie could encourage them to get behind anti-American violence? I say no to each.
This sidebar of activity is just one of an unknown number of threads that are raveling through the world as the result of our choice to go to war against Iraq. The unknown threads may entangle us unexpectedly at some point. Factually, we don't know and can't predict what will happen.
How sad. I always want to believe that Americans, by our actions, should be automatically identifiable as the good guys.
The Americans said they had been looking for Iraqi insurgents and unwittingly rounded up the Turks because they were not in uniform. Still, the incident damaged Turkish-U.S. relations and hurt Turkish national pride. Turks traditionally idolize their soldiers; most enthusiastically send their sons off for mandatory military service.
In the new movie just released in Turkey, one of the Turkish special forces officers commits suicide to save his honor. His farewell letter reaches Polat Alemdar, an elite Turkish intelligence officer who travels to northern Iraq with a small group of men to avenge the humiliation. The Turkish squad do exact vengeance on the American troops who attacked the Turkish officers and perpetrated a series of other violent and rogue acts against Iraqis.
The movie is purportedly doing a landoffice business, selling out seatings in a country that has traditionally been our ally. I guess one response would be to say, "It's only a movie." However, I think that there is more to be pondered here. When Charles Bronson and Sylvester Stallone made their 'vengeance' movies, the sentiments expressed articulated the feelings and attitudes of many frustrated people, people afraid of crime and criminals and the faceless, numberless, cruel guerilla forces out in the world. Perhaps these movies provided a release for those audiences, allowing them to purge themselves of their own violence so that the social upheaval of masses of people exercising a "death wish" or becoming "Rambo" never happened. Or perhaps the social attitudes held by such folks were reinforced, making them more willing to applaud or permit the perceived act of righteous vengeance. We don't know. One might point to a decline in violent crime statistics in the US and say that is an indicator that could point to catharsis. Certainly, following Sept 11th, the idea of engaging in 'just vengeance' was validated and perhaps a willingness existed to be less discerning about who the target was. We just don't know. However, neither perspective is very reassuring.
Would it be a good thing to think that the Turks, justly angered at some of the actions taken by their ostensible allies, were being cozened into abandoning their anger through the vehicle of popular entertainment allowing them to fantasize about a
rough but sure justice? Would it be a good thing to think that the Turks, longstanding and loyal supporters of many western values in a sea of Islamic ferment, were so angered that this movie could encourage them to get behind anti-American violence? I say no to each.
This sidebar of activity is just one of an unknown number of threads that are raveling through the world as the result of our choice to go to war against Iraq. The unknown threads may entangle us unexpectedly at some point. Factually, we don't know and can't predict what will happen.
How sad. I always want to believe that Americans, by our actions, should be automatically identifiable as the good guys.
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