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Top Politics News
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In the midst of a film industry crackdown on digital movie piracy, filmmaker Robert Greenwald is urging rampant, unauthorized copying of his documentary criticizing the Bush administration's reasons for invading Iraq.
The 56-minute film, "Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War," concludes that President Bush and his team distorted intelligence data and misled the American public ahead of the March invasion that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Greenwald has bypassed movie theaters and television, and instead has organized "parlor screenings" in thousands of homes across the United States with the help of Internet-based liberal advocacy group, MoveOn.org.
People attending can buy DVD or VHS copies that they in turn are urged to reproduce and pass along for free to others.
"You have my permission to give it away. This film is meant to be a tool, so you will take it and do with it as you will," Greenwald implored a recent audience in Los Angeles.
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RALLYING CRY
The film features former CIA officials, diplomats, weapons inspectors and military experts rebutting administration prewar assertions that Iraq posed a threat to the United States. They conclude the White House exaggerated, ignored or manipulated intelligence to fabricate reasons for deposing Hussein.
Their comments are juxtaposed with statements by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other officials making a case that Iraq was aligned with terrorists and held weapons of mass destruction.
As intended, the film has become a rallying cry for anti-war activists and Bush administration critics.
Financed by MoveOn and the left-leaning Center for American Progress, headed by former President Bill Clinton's chief of staff, John Podesta, the film has since drawn the support of such groups as Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out and Physicians for Social Responsibility.
On Wednesday night, an invitation-only showing in Los Angeles drew a handful of notable celebrities, including Ed Asner and James Cromwell, and representatives of four Democrats running for president -- Howard Dean, John Kerry, Wesley Clark and Dennis Kucinich -- who embraced the movie and its message.
All four have criticized U.S. conduct toward Iraq, and made it a centerpiece of their campaigns. They seized on "Uncovered" as a means of refocusing attention on the origins of the war at a time when the Bush administration is exalting in the recent capture of Saddam Hussein.
"It's a rare show of unity," Kerry campaign representative Jennifer Hidges said. "We agree that we were lied to ... so there's a sense of betrayal among a lot of Democrats."
Asner said he doubted the movie would sway staunch Bush supporters but could prove useful to Democrats.
"There are many, many people out there who are too afraid to take a stand, and the value of this piece is it may coax them out of their shell of fear," he said.
Reuters/VNU
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