Shooting War: The Horror of Iraq Goes Graphic [Video]

By Anthony Lappé and Dan Goldman, SMITH Magazine. Posted December 8, 2007.

Shooting War, a graphic novel set in Iraq in the year 2011, has been chilling readers and making headlines about its vivid and surreal depiction of the war zone.

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Editor's note: The video to the right is a trailer film based on Shooting War, a full-color 192-page hardcover graphic novel written by Anthony Lappé and drawn by Dan Goldman. Shooting War has received growing attention from audiences and the press in recent months.

AlteNet published a review of Shooting War:

It's the year 2011. John McCain is our unpopular president, the war in Iraq rages on, gasoline is $10 a gallon, and Tom Cruise and Mary-Kate Olsen have just called it quits. When videoblogger Jimmy Burns captures on camera a suicide bomb blast that rocks a Brooklyn Starbucks (destroying his apartment above), he's immediately hired by maverick network Global News and packed off to Iraq.

Read more of the review here.

Anthony Lappé explains how Shooting War came about in this interview, which also features a lengthy excerpt from the graphic novel:

Q: What inspired you to write Shooting War?

Lappé: Shooting War was in part inspired by my own reporting in Iraq for a documentary I produced for the Guerrilla News Network (with my partner Stephen Marshall) called

BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge. We traveled across the country just as the insurgency was beginning to gain strength, trying to understand the various forces that were fueling resistance to the coalition occupation. Near the end of our trip, we found ourselves smack in the middle of the Sunni Triangle interviewing Lt. Col. Nate Sassaman; the cocky former West Point quarterback had become a legend among his men for his aggressive attitude and tactics. After vehemently denying allegations locals made to us that his unit beat up old ladies, shot pets and hauled off innocent young men in midnight raids, a frustrated Sassaman blurted out, "My life is a surreal movie. Everyday I wake up, and it's a surreal movie." (Sassaman later resigned in disgrace after trying to cover up the killing of an Iraqi teenager by two of his men.)

Sassaman's comment stuck with me. And as soon as I got home, I began crafting a storyline in my head to try and capture the former college football star's moment of clarity. All war is to some extent or another inherently surreal, but Iraq will surely be the most surreal of our lifetime. The utterly avoidable conflict has turned into a Hobbesian war of all against all -- thrusting hundreds of thousands of jacked-up PS2-reared American ass-kickers, most of whom who can't find Iraq on a map, let alone explain the difference between Shia and Sunni, into a cauldron of centuries-old hatred and conflict.

I am convinced it will go down in history as one of the greatest military blunders of the modern era. It is a great tragedy. But also an incredible farce. And it is the intersection of tragedy and surreal farce that I try to capture in Shooting War.

I set Shooting War in 2011 as a sort of thought experiment, to take today's headlines and extrapolate where we might be headed. Of course, my future ain't pretty. Imagine today's rash of bad news. I mean there's a shitload of really bad news right now -- but multiply that by ten, maybe eleven. I freely admit it's a dark vision of the worst-case scenario of where the Bush agenda is leading us. There's a global oil crisis, the U.S. economy is busted, and the Middle East has devolved into regional strife. And, of course, in Iraq, a full-on civil war is raging, but our allies are not who you think they'd be.

Read more...

See more stories tagged with: shooting war, anthony lappe, dan goldman

SHOOTING WAR is a full-color 192-page hardcover graphic novel published by Grand Central Publishing (US) and Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK) by Anthony Lappé and Dan Goldman. It started as a serialized webcomic and online community on SMITH Magazine.

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Why would someone bomb a Starbucks? [Report this comment] Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Dec 8, 2007 8:45 AM Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Starbucks have always been an interesting target for someone - not quite sure who. For example, in 2000 in Seattle, the year after the major 1999 protests against the WTO, some unknown people attacked Starbucks: Starbucks stores vandalized as Seattle braces for WTO anniversary protests, CNN 2000. Everyone knows that such actions are probably carried out by undercover cops and agent provocateurs in order to discredit the legitimate anti-globalization movement. The police in Canada got caught on film doing this recently, and had to admit to it. Here's another photo of a "protester" breaking the window of a Starbucks in Seattle. (AP/Stephen Savoia) In other words, the whole premise of this book (violent attacks on Starbucks) fits right in with some pretty shady behaviors on the part of the pro-globalization sector and their friends in the FBI. Discrediting movements by infiltrating them and then provoking violence is the standard 20th century governmental tactic for dealing with the non-violent protest promoted by the likes of Gandhi. Everyone from the Burmese generals to the Israelis to the U.S. government uses this tactic. As the SF Chronicle reported in the leadup to the 1999 WTO protests, "Even protest organizers, who clearly are having the time of their lives preparing for what they call ``a festival of democracy in the streets,'' worry that things may get out of hand. The vast majority of the protesters -- ranging from union members to environmentalists -- are expected to be peaceful. But small radical fringe groups are planning violence, organizers say." How many of those 'radical fringe groups' were really government employees in Black Blok disguise? Notice how the media focused on the violent actions of these 'fringe groups?' Notice how this graphic novel picks up on and supports the 'bomb Starbucks' theme? The message appears to be that anti-globalization activists are violent and dangerous, doesn't it? Who wants to get that message out? Halliburton, maybe? Who else at GNN has been running hit pieces targeting globalization activists and writers? How about co-founder Stephen Marshall: Does Naomi Klein Oversimplify the Connections Between Globalization and War? By Stephen Marshall, AlterNet. Posted September 22, 2007. Bogus, I think. There are far better graphic novels than this one that address the current situation. Try V, or even better, the Ghost in the Shell anime series created in Japan. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » Whatever . . . Posted by: Scientz the truth about shooting war. [Report this comment] Posted by: andrewstromotich on Dec 9, 2007 11:45 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] shooting war is a strong example of heavily propagandized "pop" culture. in one chapter of shooting war, anthony lappe 'creates' the story of a young boy caught in a firefight between US troops and "insurgents". the boy is shot by the insurgents, and a soldier risks his life to protect the hysterical mother from the iraqi insurgents (typical US military propaganda). when the US soldier picks up the dead boy, a detonator falls out of his hand. the boy was a suicide bomber out to kill us troops! the mother grabs the detonator and kills everyone... a shocking example of propaganda aimed at dehumanizing women and children in Iraq. there are no examples of actual children suicide bombers, this is entirely fictionalized by anthony lappe, and one has to ask why would he create such a trite piece of propaganda aimed at american children. a little investigation into GNN's connections to the USIA (US propaganda agency covertly run by william casey in the 1980's), and connections to unit 8200 of the isreali defence forces (special intelligence unit, in which gil shwed served), may paint a clearer picture as to why these guys are involved in such obvious propaganda. cointelpro still exists (obviously). propaganda aimed at americans has been big business since the 50's. it went on in the 60's, 70's and 80's, and it is obviously funtioning again now. anthony lappe was employed by the USIA in the 90's. he went to palestine and trained around 30 young palestinian journalists while employed buy the USIA. he refuses to give any details of his activities and refuses to give the name of the recruiting agent that sought him out or the names of any of his superiors. Ian Inaba, a co-founder of his GNN project, is or was on the board of directors in two chair positions of CHECKPOINT (as in IDF checkpoint) TECHNOLOGIES, a company created by IDF special intelligence officer, gil shwed. since GNN is a private organization, it is very difficult to find out where they get their funding or who they are connected to, but these connections to the IDF and USIA are pretty damning, and the lack of co-operation GNN has shown with regards to any investigations into their history, leaves me concerned. I for one, would not allow my children to read a comic book about the war in Iraq which villifies iraqi children and women... [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » You really need to take a trip... Posted by: worldwide65 Commenting on books one hasn't read [Report this comment] Posted by: Anthony Lappe on Dec 10, 2007 10:16 PM Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Making erroneous comments about media one hasn't seen or read is a familiar tactic of the common household interweb troll. In this case, the troll is a known stalker who has created a bizarre conspiracy theory in his head that I am a government agent. I hate to disappoint. My life isn't that exciting. Furthermore, the characterization of Shooting War as pro-American propaganda is ridiculous to anyone who has actually read it. If the above poster had bothered to do so before posting his ill-informed comment, he'd see that a major theme is American war crimes and the lack of mainstream media coverage of them. And for the record, the young kid in the web comic is not a suicide bomber. He was being used by a group of radical jihadists to help plant and set off an IED. This is not fantasy land. This is the reality of Iraq. There are numerous reports of young kids being recruited by the insurgency to help them plant IEDs. In fact, I met a youngster in the Sunni triangle who told us that he wished he had an RPG so he could fire on American vehicles patrolling his village. He was about 8. For some critiques of the book by people who have actually read it, go here. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » hi tony Posted by: andrewstromotich » RE: Commenting on books one hasn't read Posted by: andrewstromotich » I only have one (two, three, four, five)-problem with the story... Posted by: worldwide65

» Whatever . . . Posted by: Scientz

» You really need to take a trip... Posted by: worldwide65

» hi tony Posted by: andrewstromotich

» RE: Commenting on books one hasn't read Posted by: andrewstromotich

» I only have one (two, three, four, five)-problem with the story... Posted by: worldwide65

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» Whatever . . . Posted by: Scientz

» You really need to take a trip... Posted by: worldwide65

» hi tony Posted by: andrewstromotich

» RE: Commenting on books one hasn't read Posted by: andrewstromotich

» I only have one (two, three, four, five)-problem with the story... Posted by: worldwide65