[act-ma] Opens Fri, Oct 31: Film: "Citizen Four" (aka Edward Snowden) - Kendall Sq Theatre, Cambridge

[pf soto]

"/the fact that he says, '/Oh, we want to go and fight ISIS right now/,' 
first of all, they want to make money off of it/" ~ Jeremy Scahill re 
Erik Prince, founder of US mercenary outfit *BlackWater*


  1)   Citizen Four

see also snippets of film & interview w Laura Poitras at DemocracyNow 
<http://www.democracynow.org/2014/10/23/citizenfour_inside_story_of_nsa_leaker>
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  Starts Friday, October 31
  at the Kendall Square Cinema
  <http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/Boston/Boston_frameset.htm>

<http://landmarktheatres.com/Films/films_frameset.asp?id=143297>
In January 2013, filmmaker Laura Poitras was in the process of 
constructing a film about abuses of national security in post-9/11 
America when she started receiving encrypted e-mails from someone 
identifying himself as "citizen four," who was ready to blow the whistle 
on the massive covert surveillance programs run by the NSA and other 
intelligence agencies. In June 2013, she and reporter Glenn Greenwald 
flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with the man who turned 
out to be Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her. The film that 
resulted from this series of tense encounters is absolutely sui generis 
in the history of cinema: a 100% real-life thriller unfolding minute by 
minute before our eyes. Poitras is a masterful storyteller: she 
compresses the many days of questioning, waiting, confirming, watching 
the world's reaction and agonizing over the next move, into both a great 
character study of Snowden and a narrative that will leave you on the 
edge of your seat as it inexorably moves toward its conclusion. Official 
Web Site <https://citizenfourfilm.com/>



  2) Blackwater Execs Remain Free as Guards Convicted for Killing 14
  Iraqis in Massacre
  <http://www.democracynow.org/2014/10/23/jeremy_scahill_blackwater_execs_remain_free>


summary:
A federal jury has returned guilty verdicts against four Blackwater 
operatives involved in the 2007 massacre at Baghdad’s Nisoor Square. On 
Wednesday, the jury found one guard, Nicholas Slatten, guilty of 
first-degree murder, while three other guards were convicted of 
voluntary manslaughter: Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard. The 
jury is still deliberating on additional charges against the operatives, 
who faced a combined 33 counts. The operatives were tried for the deaths 
of 14 of the 17 Iraqi civilians who died when their Blackwater unit 
opened fire. We speak to Jeremy Scahill, author of the best-selling book 
"Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army." His 
most recent article published by The Intercept is "Blackwater Founder 
Remains Free & Rich While His Former Employees Go Down on Murder Charges."

excerpt:

Scahill:  this is an extremely important verdict, because *we’re talking 
about a mercenary industry, a war industry*, that has largely operated 
in a Wild West atmosphere, where there’s absolutely no accountability. 
So, while we only have a handful of people being held accountable for 
what were very widespread crimes committed by Blackwater and other 
private military companies, this is a very important moment for the 
victims of Nisoor Square. And they’ve fought for many years in both 
civil courts and criminal courts to try to get justice for their loved 
ones who were killed. But let’s be clear here. Blackwater was a part of 
an unlawful global war that was borderless in nature, launched by George 
W. Bush and Dick Cheney, with the support of Democrats in the U.S. 
Congress, and President Obama has continued to use mercenary forces. 
None of the people that unleashed these forces on the world, at the 
highest levels, are being held accountable.

...Erik Prince is a radical right-wing Christian supremacist who, from 
the very beginning of the so-called war on terror, viewed the role of 
Blackwater in the world as being neo-crusaders. And he is a radical 
anti-Muslim. And he hates the religion of Islam. And he—his company, 
basically, was allowed to operate in an atmosphere where they would kill 
Muslims for sport inside of Iraq.

...And, you know, the fact that he says, "Oh, we want to go and fight 
ISIS right now," first of all, they want to make money off of it

...








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