Full Battle Rattle

2008

Documentary, War

First Run Features

R1 DVD

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

Medina Fasl is a typical Iraqi town – dry, dusty, in the middle of nowhere, and populated by a small group of Iraqis who are just trying to make ends meet. It is also sited in the National Training Centre in Fort Irwin, California, in the Mojave Desert. It is a training centre for U.S. troops on their way to Iraq. Many years ago the U.S. Marines realised that their job would be easier if they could get the local population on side. They wanted to be seen as allies rather than occupiers. This made their job considerably easier, and the Army has now copied the idea. It is designed to expose soldiers to the sort of warfare they will encounter and to come to understand the local people.

Medina Wasl is populated by expatriate Iraquis who do their best to duplicate their positions back home. Some are already Americans, some like Nagi Moshi (who plays the Chief of Police) and Shareen (a village girl) are refugees studying for U.S. citizenship. We learn a little of their stories as well. Iraqi conditions are simulated as well as they can be, given that the town is really just a huge movie set and each exercise is more like a play. The soldiers rotating through the Training Centre will be exposed to insurgent activity, religious tensions within the town, suspicion and poverty. If they succeed in their mission of making friends with the Iraqis they will be “rewarded “ with lower insurgent activity. They are even accompanied by simulated TV newsmen.

It is obvious that some of the troops need this training. Some are just rednecks and it is these men whose attitude must be changed. It seems to be working. Sergeant Paul Green now plays an Iraqi insurgent in the exercises. He says that during his previous tour of duty in Iraq “in 04 and 05 we were just told to kick down doors, look for guns....”

As the days go by and the troops become more familiar with the town and its people, a strange thing happens. Soldiers put up basketball hoops and provide soccer balls for the kids (soccer is a fanatical national pastime in Iraq). They wave to the kids as they drive through the town, and the kids wave back. When the Army Liaison officer visits the Deputy Mayor he brings a case of fresh oranges, a rare treat for the villagers. We can see the attitudes changing as the townspeople become more than just “towelheads” to the soldiers. It may be just actors slipping into their roles, but the soldiers are starting to relate to the people of Medina Wasl.

The troops are not allowed to become too comfortable. The Deputy Mayor’s son has been executed by religious radicals and civil war could break out in the town between the two main religious groups, the Sunni Moslems and the Shia. There are some areas where the troops can do little.

Two civilians are accidentally killed at a roadblock, raising tensions in the town. The insurgents take the opportunity to attack the troops in a night raid on the U.S. base itself. This is followed by a savage attack on the troops next time they visit the village. The (simulated) death count is high.

Violence erupts in the town in a revenge killing in payback for the death of the Deputy Mayor’s son.

Many lessons are learned by the troops in this exercise. Hopefully they will translate into the real world when the troops go to Iraq, their next posting. Will this sort of training work?

The battalion went on to do fifteen months in Iraq with very few lives lost. Perhaps Medina Wasl was a success. The town is currently being converted into its next phase, a typical Afghani village.

The Extras include brief interviews with some of the returned soldiers, the poignant family reunions after their plane touches down, and just to keep the balance there is an interview with Rahim Alhaj, a player of the classic stringed instrument, the Oud. He reminds us of the deep history and culture of Iraq before it was crippled by constant war and sanctions.

Perhaps the most poignant moment is a simulated newscast of the execution of the Deputy Mayor and his family in a payback religious killing. The violence goes on.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.6 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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