"Dirty Wars"

On Monday, 7/1/13 at our son Kyle's invitation, Anne and I joined him and Diane and their 13 year old son Keoni to drive to Orange County, about 35 miles away to see a remarkable movie, "Dirty Wars," by investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill.

Scahill in 2007 was the one who told the world about Blackwater, a large mercenary organization the U.S. used extensively in the Iraq War and for many other covert and brutal tasks then and now.

For "Dirty Wars," Scahill, a cameraman and a translator went where few other U.S. journalists or any other journalists would dare to go to capture the horrors the U.S. death squads are committing and to give the American people and others a sense for the brutal and illegal actions the U.S. is conducting in its "War on Terror."

It now has "hit lists" numbering in the thousands of names and is spreading its war to 75 nations in an ever growing and endless series of wars. Scahill risked his life and those of his cameraman and translators to tell this story, only to have the American people ignore his movie.

They apparently don't want to know what their government is doing.

Counting the five of us, there were only about 12 or 13 people watching the movie on the last Los Angeles area screen showing it and the theater would end its run two days later, after just a two week run.

After the movie, we all enjoyed a lovely dinner at Maggiano's, an Italian restaurant which is part of a large chain.

We then went to Kyle's and Diane's home and joined with them and Keoni in playing with Keoni's baby brother, six month old Ikaika, a tiny guy who likes to stay close to Keoni. As we laughed, the baby laughed and everyone had fun playing with him including Julia his nanny. It was a wonderful way to end the evening.

Those happy memories have stayed with me. But so have memories of "Dirty Wars," for all the horrific and illegal actions the U.S. is taking, thanks to people like Jeremy Scahill are no longer hidden for they are in plain sight for anyone willing to see.

Dick