Universal finds 'Glory' in Iraq war pic (Harrison Ford Fallujah movie)

[villager]

U finds 'Glory' in Iraq war pic

Ford starrer based on 'Fallujah' tome

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Harrison Ford is attached to play one of the key characters in an ensemble drama that marks the first major featurefeature project about the current war in Iraq.

Universal-based Double Feature partners Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher have optioned the upcoming book "No True Glory: The Battle for Fallujah" through their Universal PicturesUniversal Pictures discretionary fund.

Book, which Bantam will publish in May, was written by Bing West, an ex-Marine and former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs who is now a foreign correspondent covering the Iraq war. West will write the script with son Owen, a longtime Marine rifleman who left the service to become a trader at Goldman Sachs but returned to fight in Iraq for a year.

Shamberg and Sher will produce with Carla Santos Shamberg, a Double Features execexec who is overseeing the project.

"No True Glory" will use the Fallujah assault as a way to explore the dangerous intersection of war and politics, depicting the drama from the viewpoints of soldiers, military leaders and politicians.

<snip>

www.variety.com -- subscription site

[wtmusic]

1. 'depicting the drama from the viewpoints of soldiers,

military leaders and politicians...'

That sounds just fascinating. No, really. I guess a fucking RESIDENT'S viewpoint wouldn't interest anyone, now would it?

[villager]

2. you couldn't get Harrison Ford to play an Iraqi, see

so there wouldn't be any "box office," or maybe the DVD sales would suffer...

[MichaelHarris]

5. hey

they got John Wayne to play a Mongol, I guess anything is possible. Man if you ever see that John Wayne movie look at his eyes and try NOT to crack up.

[aquart]

9. Is that the one that killed him because of the radioactive sand?

Or is that a whole other movie?

[MichaelHarris]

10. yeah

everyone on that movie died of cancer

[theHandpuppet]

16. Yep, Susan Hayward, who co-starred in the film...

... died of a brain tumor. One of my fave actresses -- but one of the most horrid movies of all time!

[villager]

17. everyone on that John Wayne movie got cancer!

They filmed it in a radioactive nuclear test zone out in Utah, I believe... "The Conqueror," right?

[happyslug]

35. Not Quite.......

"Cannon" Star William Conrad died in 1994 of Heart Attack. He was one of a side characters in the Movie: For more on William Conrad:
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0002016/

While the three big stars did die of Cancer (John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendáriz and Agnes Moorehead). John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz and Agnes Moorehead were know to be CHAIN SMOKERS and this probably was the cause of their deaths more than the Atomic Bomb experiments of the time period.

For more on the Movie "The Conquerer":
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0049092/

The "test" being done at the time were to see if it was possible for an Atomic Bomb to be set off by conventional Bombs that would hit it. The results were Negative (none of the Atomic Bombs went off) BUT plutonium was spread into the Atmosphere and this is what caused the "Cancer" (If the Cancer was not caused by Smoking).

[rainbow4321]

40. Now imagine if someone tried to do a movie re: 9/11....

oh, say, a month after it happened...newsflash to the people who want to make this movie: Iraq has lost 100,000 civilians <and counting>, WE have lost over a 1000+ soldiers with God only knows how many more maimed for life....why not use the SAME decency and respect towards these dead people as you would have towards the 3000+ dead on 9/11. Everyone would have been all over their asses had they done this with 9/11, yet a movie about the death and destruction of Fallujah/Iraq is acceptable??

[Erika]

3. Uh, how about there is no reason for us being there

and it's draining our tax base so it "hurts our children".

[IndianaGreen]

4. Harrison Ford is way too old to play a Marine

and I cannot imagine how this film could even be produced. Remember John Wayne's "The Green Berets"?

[crimson333]

6. Hey I liked The Green Berets

I wasn't affected by Wayne's age, but i did find it funny seeing the white guys pretending to be viet. soldiers

[MichaelHarris]

7. yeah

the best part was John Wayne standing on the beach in Nam watching the setting sun. Hmmmm setting sun on a beach facing east, yeah, I guess I can see that.

[RedCon1]

8. It was a "so -so" movie. Its real value lay in the propaganda aspects

much like "Glory" I imagine. Indiana Jones/Han Solo has fallen from a lofty perch indeed.

[MichaelHarris]

11. don't

"pork" her Hans, thats Luke's sister and they're from Kentucky.

[yorkiemommie1]

30. i wonder if any asians

auditioned for those parts. maybe asians couldn't even get agents in those days.

[HeeBGBz]

14. Not in this war

They have 50-70 year olds called up.

[DeaconBlues]

29. Who says he's too old?

They are reenlisting grandmothers and grandfathers who last served in Vietnam as we speak.

[NashVegas]

12. Interesting

I could have sworn war movies were bombing at the box office (no pun intended).

[LynnTheDem]

13. Any famous to play the parts of innocent Iraqi civs slaughtered?

And will they do the "dogs eating human corpses" scenes too?

The RWWs would love that; a "family values" movie! :)

[hatrack]

21. I was wondering if they'd have a credit for "Fly Wrangler"

Given how many descended on the thousands of bloated corpses once we'd finished the liberation process . . .

[LynnTheDem]

25. ROTFL!!!

Spit my soda all over my keyboard, drats!

[Minstrel Boy]

22. Dog eating corpses to be played by Wags from The Wiggles.

[hatrack]

24. Maybe Tinky Winky could provide color commentary

"Ee oo! Stinky corpses la la la!!!"

[Sputnik]

15. This on Ford from last year....

"Harrison Ford blasts U.S. Iraq policy"

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/27/1061663852052.html?oneclick=true

[Hell Hath No Fury]

19. I have a feeling....

this won't be a "war" movie that will make the administration happy.

Ford has been too clear in his views. I think this will be a "fuck you" to Bush.

[peacebird]

27. i hope you are right about that

[Vidar]

31. Thanks for reporting that. I've admired Ford.

[Just Me]

32. My first thought was that Ford has played some great anti-corruption

roles. Maybe, this movie will reveal the corruption beneath the surface.

[DrWeird]

18. Great, another Green Beret.

John Wayne shoots a POW in the head and comes away a hero. Jesus fucking Christ.

[Minstrel Boy]

20. In other entertainment news, Iraqis remake "The Battle of Algiers."

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

by the time this movie comes out

fallujah will be back in iraqi control.

[RamboLiberal]

23. Here's some writing by Owen West - judge for yourselves

Paying civilians to play soldier makes no sense. Today the United States employs between 7,000 and 17,000 civilians in infantry roles. The pay is extraordinary, hovering between $500 per day and $1,000 per day for everything from site security (for government compounds throughout Iraq) to convoy/company security to personal security (for dignitaries). This money comes tax-free in a combat zone. There are four problems here: morale deflation, gross monetary waste, tactical confusion, and direct competition for a tiny talent pool.

Soldiers look at security contractors and think: Why the hell is he making eight times my salary for performing the same job? Is the military that pock-marked with overage and inefficiency? Using bottom-up cost-accounting, the military is essentially buying out its most experienced soldiers and luring them out of the active ranks (if Stop-Loss is ever lifted, that is) with rich contracts, even as it desperately seeks new recruits. Worse, it's paying introduction fees to private security companies like Dynacorps and Blackwater for the people it recruited in the first place. How in the world did this happen?

The answer may lie in the marginal recruit. Congress just passed legislation to increase the number of soldiers by 30,000. But the Army is just barely meeting its current recruiting goals. To attract these new hires, the Army will have to come up with a pay structure that lures the 30,000th recruit. The problem is, the military pay structure is so antiquated that if you pay one soldier more money, you pay all soldiers more money. So it's not a question of paying 30,000 recruits. It's a question of paying those 30,000, then upping the pay of the other 1.4 million active members and the other 1.1 million reservists. It's an expensive prospect, this reverse Dutch auction. Perhaps it's cheaper to shift 10,000 infantry jobs over to the privateers, jack up the pay of private contractors, and pay the brokerage fee to the company.

This conclusion still omits the inherent problems created when armed civilians operate in a battlefield controlled by the military. The Blackwater security crew that was ambushed in Fallujah was operating in the Marine Corps zone without their knowledge and specific consent. As a result, Marine plans to systematically build up goodwill in the Sunni Triangle were scrapped. In Abu Ghraib, contractors held sway over soldiers, yet took no responsibility in the aftermath. In sum, contractors operating outside the chain of command clashes with common sense.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2104305/entry/2104507/

http://www.westwrite.com/ Website writings of Bing and Owen West

[THUNDER HANDS]

26. i could see this as being a 'Team America World Police' type of war movie

where both liberals and conservatives leave the theater seeing what they wanted to see and taking away from it what they will.

There will probably be some strong 'why the hell are we doing this' aspect to the film, which will appeal to liberals.

And there will be the shooting and killing of Iraqis, which will appeal to conservatives.

[Blue_Tires]

28. my thoughts exactly

[Emboldened Chimp]

33. I recall last year that Carlyle Group was interested in Universal....

Here's an article...

http://www.cnn.com/2003/BUSINESS/03/04/vivendi.reut/

Did the deal ever go through?

[Tight_rope]

34. I respect Harrison Ford...In the past he has play characters that have...

told stories about the true nature of corruption in governments of both US and other countries around the world. I look forward to seeing this film. I have a feeling that many truths about what really happened in Fallujah will surface from this movie.

[Chicago Democrat]

37. Yes, it will be interesting to see where this will go.

I hope you are right.

[VegasWolf]

36. but, but, how do you sugarcoat blowing up little girls and boys in

Fallujah?

[Tinoire]

38. Disgusting! Book author Bing West -GAMA CORP / Council of Foreign Rel.

Welcome to the website of Bing and Owen West, 2nd and 3rd generation infantry Marines.
Click on the links below to read some of the most exciting military and adventure writing on the Web.


BING WEST

Bing West served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. He was also Dean of Research at the Naval War College and Vice President of the Hudson Institute. He is a graduate of Georgetown and Princeton Universities. As a teenager, he held the spear fishing record for striped bass. In Vietnam, Bing was a member of force recon team ‘Primness’, which initiated Operation Stingray and whose behind-the-lines tactics are the backdrop for The Pepperdogs. He was a CNN military analyst during Desert Storm. His firm, GAMA Corporation, conducts combat training for the Marine Corps. In March and April of 2003, he accompanied the lead Marine units from Kuwait to Baghdad. He lives in Newport, RI and Washington, DC.



Bing and Owen in Iraq, 2004


OWEN WEST

Owen attended Harvard University on a ROTC scholarship and rowed for the varsity crew team. He served in the Marine Corps for seven years and led a rifle platoon, a rifle company, and a reconnaissance platoon. He received his MBA from Stanford University and currently trades energy futures for Goldman, Sachs in New York. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. An endurance athlete, Owen has raced six times in the Eco Challenge and has finished as high as second, racing most recently with Marines and three Playboy Playmates. In 2001, he reached 28,000 feet on the North Face of Mount Everest. In January of 2003, Owen took leave from Goldman and joined First Force Recon in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

http://www.westwrite.com/

Bing West

Bing West served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan administration. He was a member of force recon team Primness, which ambushed a North Vietnamese battalion thus initiating Operation Stingray, whose behind-the-lines tactics are the backdrop for The Pepperdogs. His nonfiction book The Village (Pocket Books) has received high praise for describing close combat. He was a lead CNN military analyst during Desert Storm. Three generations of Wests have served in Marine infantry and his firm, http://www.gamacorp.com/">GAMA Corporation, conducts combat training for the Marine Corps. He lives in Newport, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C.

http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com/author/detail/8578

AND IT GETS BETTER!! FROM OUR GOOD NEOCON FRIENDS AT THE CFR!


Francis J. West
GAMA Corporation
The Evolving Security Roles of American Forces in Iraq
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Monday, May 17, 2004

http://www.cfr.org/bio.php?id=10480

Election Year Politics Should Not Jeopardize U.S. Staying Power in Iraq; Bipartisan Pledge Needed to Reaffirm Commitment to Security and Reconstruction

March 9, 2004 - A year after U.S. and coalition forces went to war with Iraq, American officials continue to face questions about U.S. determination to stay the course and to sustain a robust commitment to security and reconstruction in Iraq. With the transition to democracy in Iraq at a critical juncture, and with the American presidential election nearing, President Bush, presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry, and senior members of Congress must reaffirm the U.S. commitment to Iraq, concludes the Council-sponsored Independent Task Force on Post-Conflict Iraq, "Iraq: One Year After."

http://www.cfr.org/pub6848/press_release/election_year_politics_should_not_jeopardize_us_staying_power_in_iraq_bipartisan_pledge_needed_to_reaffirm_commitment_to_security_and_reconstruction.php
http://www.cfr.org/projects.php?id=59


That just told me all I needed to know about this film!

"No True Glory: The Battle for Fallujah" Brought to you by the likes of

James R. Schlesinger is the Chairman of the MITRE Corporation and a Senior Advisor at Lehman Brothers. He served several administrations in positions that included Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Energy and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Thomas R. Pickering is Senior Vice President, International Relations, at the Boeing Corporation. He completed a five-decade diplomatic career in December 2000 as Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs. He also served as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria and Jordan.

Task Force project consultant Eric Schwartz is a former Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow, and directed the two prior Task Force studies. A former aide at the National Security Council, he coordinated this Task Force project while on leave from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, where he serves as Chief of the Executive Office.

Founded in 1921, the Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, national membership organization and a nonpartisan center for scholars dedicated to producing and disseminating ideas so that individual and corporate members, as well as policymakers, journalists, students, and interested citizens in the United States and other countries, can better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other governments.

Full text of the Council-sponsored Independent Task Force on Post-Conflict Iraq, "Iraq: One Year After"

=====

Hon. Francis J. "BING" West

Francis J. West is President of the GAMA Corporation. He served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan Administration. Other posts have included Assistant to the Secretary of Defense, Vice President of the Hudson Institute, senior analyst at The RAND Corporation, Professor of Economics and Decision-making and Dean of Research at the Naval War College. He has designed and moderated over 200 simulations and exercises, and developed the Combat Decision Range course. Bing West served in Marine infantry in Vietnam and later as Assistant Secretary of Defense. He is the author of "The Village" and "The Pepperdogs," forthcoming from Simon & Schuster.A graduate of Georgetown (BA) and Princeton (MA) Universities, he also studied at the University of Fribourg inSwitzerland and was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship at Princeton. He has taught as Visiting Professor of International Politics at Tufts University and as Adjunct Professor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. Among other awards, he is the recipient of the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Department of the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, the Department of the Navy Superior Public Service Medal and Tunisia’s Medaille de Liberté.A Marine captain in Vietnam, he served in a number of infantry combat units. He was a CNN commentator during Desert Storm and has served on various boards, including the Secretary of State Commission on Foreign Aid, the Broslio Center for International Security and The Center for Naval Analyses. Bing West served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. He was also Dean of Research at the Naval War College and Vice President of the Hudson Institute. He is a graduate of Georgetown and PrincetonUniversities. As a teenager, he held the spear fishing record for striped bass. In Vietnam, Bing was a member of force recon team ‘Primness’, which initiated Operation Stingray and whose behind-the-lines tactics are the backdrops for The Pepperdogs. He was a CNN military analyst during Desert Storm. His firm, GAMA Corporation, conducts combat training for the Marine Corps. In March and April of 2003, he accompanied the lead Marine units from Kuwait to Baghdad. He lives in Newport, RI and Washington, DC. He is the author of numerous articles on foreign policy, as well as four books:


nyrotary.org/bulletin2004/bulletin_05-25-2004.pdf


Louis Jacobson interview with "Bing West" ’92

Louis Jacobson is a staff correspondent at National Journal magazine in Washington.


Q: Are our troops prepared for the kind of hand-to-hand combat we're likely
to see in Iraq?

A: Having watched these soldiers in action and having helped with their training, I'd say it's the Iraqis who have to be concerned, because the fighting will go very fast. If last time — the Gulf War — we beat them 100-0, I think this time we can beat them 200-0, with fewer troops. It bewilders me how the Iraqi Army could be sitting there waiting for us a second time. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if once we really have moved troops over there and Iraq knows we're coming, some military officer will say, "Well, Mr. Saddam, we think it's time for you to go."

(snip)

http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/web_exclusives/plus/plus_031203war.html

[NYC]

39. This trivializes war.

You can't sit in a movie theater for two hours and know what war is like. I believe this is an attempt to gloss over the war.