Uncovered: the whole truth about the Iraq war

This video was overwhelming to me at first. The amount of information, endless list of credentials and the large amount of experience the people in this video had or provided was almost numbing. In spite of this, however, I did appreciate the extent to which the film provided knowledgeable individuals that had experience in the topic at hand.

There are two things from this film that most stood out to me. The first is the idea of the propaganda and promotion that went into this war. I feel as though this video suggested war was "sold" to the public, the congress, and the UN. The words like show, performance, and theater were used to describe how Colin Powell presented his case to UN, as if this was an infomercial where the host attempts to sell you his mediocre product. The placement of the head of the CIA, is almost, in my eyes, the equivalent of celebrity placement in an advertisement. Sarah Jessica Parker uses Loreal so it must be a good product, the CIA is sitting behind Colin Powell suggesting they are backing him and therefore he must have a credible case. When a decision about invading another country over their possible possession of nuclear weapons is at stake, it would seem as though advertising strategies would be foregone in light of the seriousness. Granted one could argue that the situation was "dire" enough that it every possible resource must be tapped. However, it seems in light of the weak and faulty evidence that was possessed about nuclear weapons and Iraq, the administration resorted to manipulation to achieve its goal.

The second part of this video that stood out to me was the repeated reference to the "mushroom cloud." I could not help but remember the commercial that was shown almost every year in high school with the little girl and exploding bomb. This commercial was explained to have been controversial and extremely effective. I cannot help but think the popularity of this commercial along with the out knowledge of nuclear weapons today was just another tool used to sell the Iraq War to the public. To pull on an idea that produces the image of American children being killed by a mushroom cloud, to me is nothing more than pure manipulation as a means to achieve one's goal.