Though I really respected the work put into Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side, I viewed it with the same degree of skepticism I view all documentaries. A steady diet of Michael Moore has, I believe, eroded the faith of many Americans in not only the sanity of the democratic party and all other "left-wing radicals", but in the ultimate truthfulness of any documentary filmmaking.

Part of me wants desperately to believe that such atrocities would not--could not--occur under any form of government in this country. But the rest of me knows better. Flouting the Geneva Convention and avoiding responsibility are two things our current administration seems to be particularly good at.

The gathering of evidence seemed to be pretty solid, and the pictures collected and displayed of MPs and prison guards smiling and giving thumbs up behind piles of hooded, naked men were utterly disgusting but completely necessary, and fortunately, not gratuitous. Video images were equally shocking, but perhaps even more necessary to get the point across that something was seriously wrong.

I don't deny the necessity of someone saying something about the atrocities committed at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, as well as other US military centers for holding POWs, but I do question the film's passionate desire to point the finger of blame at someone.

The men and women in charge of running the prison claim to have been instructed to break down prisoners and get information at any cost. They claim to have been given permission--and in some cases encouragement--to use techniques of interrogation that have officially been classified as torture and prohibited under the Geneva Convention. I don't doubt that they were told these things. I also don't doubt that they practiced these methods. But there is a difference between following orders and tastelessly embellishing the point.

The photos and video taken of the prisoners' treatment were appalling. That men and women representing our country could so horrifyingly abuse and demean other human beings while smiling and joking is cause for me to wonder if we aren't employing sociopaths in the United States army. As such, part of the blame must fall on the men and women who mercilessly tortured prisoners of war at these locations.

However, they are not the only ones to blame. For our government not only refused to listen to the one man who might have been able to provide guidance in how to most effectively and humanely extract information from a POW, John McCain, but every document collected for this film, regarding interrogation techniques was vaguely worded enough to absolve the administration of any guilt regarding the treatment of POWs at these prisons, and even the acquisition of the prisoners--often from local police for a sum of money.

In my opinion, the goal of the film was to inform people of the atrocities committed at these various prisons and incense rage against the administration for allowing it to happen, while attempting to garner pity for the poor schmucks who got stuck with confusing instructions as to how to treat their prisoners once they were acquired. But the real goal of the film should not have been to point the finger, but to raise the issue of consistency between documented and practiced behavior regarding POW's in every level of government.

If we as a country do not support torture as a method of interrogation, then we should publicly and privately abide by the Geneva Convention and find new ways to gain politically valuable information from our prisoners. But if we as a country do support torture as a method of interrogation, we need to stand up and admit it, instead of lying to ourselves and the rest of the world by ignoring the Geneva Convention and prior government protocols and just hoping no one will notice.

Regardless of my political stance, though, Taxi to the Dark Side was an important collection of new and old information that hopefully will raise awareness among Americans of this issue and prompt them to demand consistency and accountability from all the levels of our government and military.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

Show/Hide comment form