One Thing Leads to Another

This story got my mind wondering back to the movie "Three Kings". If you haven't seen it, it stars George Clooney who leads a group of American soldiers on a gold heist into Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War. It's a very good movie that, because it takes chances, sometimes falls down (the scene where they down a helicopter with an exploding football is one instance where I cringed). Made in 1999, long before our current involvement in Iraq, it conveys the dangers of unintended consequences when you start messing with complicated and unfamiliar cultures and their politics. Rent it some time, you won't be bored.

One other point of interest: If you go to the IMB page for this movie and look at the certifications section (where the ratings of various countries are listed), you'll see that while it got an R rating here, the movie was banned in Iraq. I assume this was pre-2003 invasion.