Unedited Rushes of Everything Shot by the BBC in Afghanistan Over the Last Thirty Years (Wow)

[tekisui]

Source: BBC

Adam Curtis | 17:33 UK time, Thursday, 8 July 2010

TERABYTES AFGHANISTAN

I have just got my hands on something wonderful and precious. It is five computer drives containing the unedited rushes of everything shot by the BBC in Afghanistan over the last thirty years.

It fills 18 terabytes of space.

It has been put together by Phil Goodwin who has worked for 14 years as a cameraman for the BBC in Afghanistan.

What Phil Goodwin has done is incredibly important. I cannot praise him or thank him enough. He has rescued moments of experience - both grand and intimate, sometimes intense or odd, or sometimes where nothing happens at all.

But they are all extraordinary because they are part of something that has happened in Afghanistan since the early 1970s that has had a profound effect on the world.

Yet it is increasingly clear that we in the west have no real idea of what that thing was. Or is.

Since 2001 we have been repeatedly told, by both politicians and journalists, that our troops are there to prevent further terrorist attacks on the west, and to bring modern democracy to a backward country.

But that is now changing. William Dalrymple wrote a really good piece in the Guardian last week arguing that by installing members of the Northern Alliance as the rulers of Afghanistan in December 2001, the Americans and NATO were unwittingly taking sides in a civil war that had been going on since the early 1970s.

much more (w/six unedited video clips): http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2010/07/terabytes_afghanistan_i_have_j.html
________________________________

WARNING: some disturbing images of killings and dead bodies in some videos, but an amazing collection.

[annabanana]

1. WOW. . just WOW!. . Every single byte needs to be up on the web.

Talk about context!

[stray cat]

2. Did anyone ever doubt that there has been civil war in Afghanistan since the 70s?

we knew that before we even entered Afghanistan - although the pictures are new.

[enlightenment]

4. "Unwittingly" can also mean "inadvertently"

as in, without intent. That's how I read the phrase - perhaps that is the intended meaning, rather than a suggestion that the nations did not know there was a civil war?

As has been pointed out, the importance of the unedited video is the context that it brings to the situation. That context will no doubt prove very useful - especially for historians and others who are seeking a broader understanding by examining the longue durée in Afghanistan.

I truly do not grasp why you would single out one sentence in such a dismissive fashion that it appears to negate the importance of the film. Have I misread your intent?

[tekisui]

6. You didn't misread.

That is a typical response of that poster. They are one-line post and runners. Don't expect a response.

[enlightenment]

8. Ah.

I understand. Thank you.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Great find

:thumbsup:

[annabanana]

5. Oh kick kick friggen' kickety kick!!!!!

This is important.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. One of the clips is about Jack Idema.

I found an interesting news article about him and the surprisingly high number of "free lancers" like him
in Afghanistan.

The badlands of Afghanistan have become a magnet for adventure-seeking "soldiers of fortune," private contractors, self-proclaimed counter-terrorism experts, and/or security guards.

Bounty hunters and fortune seekers, fed up with low-paying, boring grunt work, arm themselves, preparing for a wild chase with high financial rewards. Some hope to capture the ultimate prize -- Osama bin Laden -- for the $25 million bounty, placed on his head by the United States.
This new breed of non-uniformed warriors has replaced men in uniform, in roles traditionally reserved for the military.

Among the many adventurers drawn to Afghanistan was former Green Beret Jonathan Keith Idema.

( My pop up blocker did not allow a pop up window on this site,) Very good story tho.


http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,SOF_0804_Idema,00.html

[Blue_Tires]

16. there are a lot of assclowns like him out there....

[leftstreet]

9. Interesting find

Thanks for posting this

[annabanana]

10. will kick through to Monday for cuberats. . . n/t

[annabanana]

11. Sunday evening kick. . . . n/t

[annabanana]

12. Dang.. too late for the cube rats.

[annabanana]

13. One More big kick. . . n/t

[malaise]

14. Kick n/t

[Blue_Tires]

15. ttt