My Trip to Al Qaeda

“We came to die”….Taliban fighter

If I could give you, my friends, a piece of political advice, it would be to disavow all your allegiances of this kind.  You’ll find it liberating to examine both sides of every argument, without being reflexively bound to your party of choice’s position.  The evangelical influence and irrational anti-Obama hysteria forced me to say goodbye to my old team of conservative Republicans.  Gripping films like “My Trip To Al-Qaeda”, remind me of why I could never identify myself as a liberal or a Democrat.

There was a fool in my study abroad group, who made the asinine claim that the United States government, was more sinister than the Islamo-fascists we are at war with.  His reasoning: The U.S. was motivated by its lust for oil. Terrorists were motivated by faith.  It never ceases to amaze me how idiotic human beings, not under the influence, can be.  Even if I granted his assumptions, oil is a precious commodity.  Faith, especially Islam, is dangerous fiction, in my opinion.  I’ll accept any challenge to this claim.

I pointed out to this silly little prancer, that if he, being a homosexual (which he openly was) found himself under the rule of our enemies, he would be subjected to cruelties that would outrage the staunchest of American homophobes.  Of course, being a liberal idealogue, he did not accept my point.  Seeing Lawrence Wright’s spectacular “My Trip To Al-Qaeda” would have done him some good.

This movie is an exhaustive analysis of the origins of 9/11, and it’s subsequent events.  It will lay to rest any doubts you may have about the importance of this struggle, the nature of the enemy, and most importantly, who the chief culprits are.  Those on the far right claim that the jihadists “hate us for our freedom.”  An overly simple point made by overly simple people.  Those on the far left claim that we have brought these troubles on ourselves.  Masochism and cowardice is all I have to say to that.  Wright, a journalist and author, who has spent the majority of his career dating back to the 60’s in the Middle East, blows both of these detestable arguments to bits, using cold facts, clever logic, and his own harrowing personal experiences and relationships.  His insight is invaluable, and controversial.

When discussing the sensitive issue of torture, Wright posits something that our intuition suggests would be true, but our humanity screams “NO” in protest: Torture works.  A number of our own leaders dance around making this assertion, as do many of the shouters on television.  Wright makes this claim openly, graphically and unapologetically.  It’s odd to hear such a slight and gentle man make such an unpopular statement.

Shortly after September 11, John McCain mentioned that in order to win this war, we would have to involve ourselves with some “very unsavory characters.”  Wright has had this exact experience, which we are privy to as we meet his sources and overhear his phone calls.

Wright discusses the moral crisis he has with regards to his semi-Faustian relationships with bombers and suspected villains.  He expresses his own outrage at the opinions he is forced to listen to when among those who sympathize with Al-Qaeda decapitators.  Wright invites us inside the alien and shadowy world of the Middle East.  This is not only a must see for movie freaks, but for concerned citizens as well.  I can’t wait to hear what you think.

Magistrate Dunham