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My Country, My Country

19:28:04 Thursday, May 28, 2009 in Film, Misc

Hellboy 2 was significantly better than the first one (so much so that I’d actually recommend the second one), but still paled compared to a great documentary I watched last night – My Country, My Country – about the Iraqi elections in January 2005.

The whole thing was interesting, but a few bits especially so:

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A US soldier giving an Iraqi $100,000 for reconstruction work (the scene was only about 20 seconds long and gave no context, but it was still pretty cool seeing that amount of money).

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A “Panic Button” on the side of a helicopter gunner’s helmet.

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A weapons dealer’s list of merchandise, during a conversation with an Australian PMC representative about procurement.

List:
RPK – $420
RPD – $250
PKM – $1350
M79 – $250
7.62mm L (ammo) – $90/case
9mm (ammo) – $35/50 rounds – $55/50 rounds US
7.62 S (ammo) – $1(?)50 – 750 rounds
7.62 L link – 50c/link
7.62 S link – 50c/link
RPG Booster – $15
MP5 – $1200
Glock – $1150

As a side note, PMCs really freak me out. It’s one thing to see footage of a uniformed soldier walking round with a machine gun, it’s quite another to see the same footage with some beardy guy in a baseball cap and jeans with the same machine gun.