MovieChat Forums > American Outlaws (2001) Discussion > Chilling parallel to insurgents in Iraq

Chilling parallel to insurgents in Iraq

posted 18 years ago by don-ellis
8 replies | jump to latest

Yes, I know this file had to be in the can before the WTC attacks on 9/11...

However, when the boys go home and see Union troops marching through town and say "This is an army of occupation," from that point on I see parallels in the language and behavior with the actions of some insurgents in Iraq in the current daily news.

Of course, the film portrayal doesn't come close to what insurgents are doing over there, BUT I also wonder how this tracks with what really happened in western Missouri soon after the War. Some people indicate the James/Younger gang were quite ruthless at times, and I don't expect a lot of difference from the way people act in current situations of lawlessness.

And one other shock was the mention of Liberty, MO - I pass an exit for Liberty on the way between my hotel here in Lenexa (near KC) and the KC airport.

[–] hitchingsk 18 years ago

Are you kidding? How in the world were you able to compare a light-hearted western with an actual war? Come on if you are going to try and be "Deep" and "Introspective", try this: compare what the prisoners of Abu Ghraib went through with the "Hart's War" prison camp?

Go on, I'm waiting.

I mean, in "Hart's War" at least the prisoners got to put on a little talent show. There is NO WAY to compare the war in Iraq with any movie, especially a cowboy movie with a rock soundtrack.

[–] GraeShadowe 18 years ago

Very true.
The Union occupation of the South were more oppressive than the modern U.S. occupation of Iraq. In the former Confederate states, there were no schools built, no infrastructure rebuilt, and was generally a harsh police state where even weddings (gatherings of more than 3-5 persons) were illegal. Compared to the reconstruction of the South, Iraq is a party fest.
And the Northern population didn't penalize Union soldiers for the rampant rape and torture of Southern citizenry, either.
Sounds like don-ellis is a pseudo-intellectual who should get out more and leave the Democratic Underground for the REAL idiots.

Refusal to believe does not negate the truth.

[–] McStallen 17 years ago

whatever- if a dillusional idiot with an agenda thinks hard enough, you can draw iraq comparisons to thousands of different movies -i'm sure steel magnolias reminds you of 9/11 too

and "party fest?" c'mon, assume you're writing to a literate audiance- no one is going to buy the party fest line johnny reb- for the record, southern reconstruction was relatively brief, and in the end all those poor persecuted southern hate-mongers ended up back in control where they were free to continue to rape and torture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction

[–] GraeShadowe 17 years ago

For the record, Southern reconstruction was brutal; brought on by the steel bootheel of military rule from the North.
Rape and torture? Pi$$ off.

Refusal to believe does not negate the truth.

[–] SipteaHighTea 15 years ago

The Southern whites were no less brutal to the Afro-Americans once the Union troops withdrew from the South.

[–] GraeShadowe 15 years ago

Union troops NEVER withdrew from the south; coincidentally, slavery was still legal in the Union: Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (often misquoted) didn't apply to the Northern states.

Refusal to believe does not negate the truth.

[–] SipteaHighTea 14 years ago

The federal troops were withdraw from the South in 1877. Regarding Northern Occupation of the South, the Union troops did not go about killing Southern folks left and right like in Iraq and Afghanistan. Furthermore, the Southern states re-introduce semi-slavery which lasted until the start of World War II. Read Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas Blackmon.

[–] GraeShadowe 13 years ago

It's blatantly obvious you are as ignorant of Iraq as you are reconstruction.
You're dismissed.

Refusal to believe does not negate the truth.