How Evil Is the American Empire?: A Review of The Mauritanian (movie)

Reprinted from the Future of Freedom Foundation with permission.

If ever one were to doubt or question that the United States has become a national-security state, all he or she would need to do is see the movie The Mauritanian  to dispel such doubts. Titled after the name of the obscure Arab country in Africa from which the protagonist is from, it is an inspiring true story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s fight for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. government for years at Guantanamo Bay in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Alone and afraid, Slahi finds allies in defense attorney Nancy Hollander (played by Jodie Foster) and her associate Teri Duncan. Together they battle the U.S. government in a fight for justice that tests their commitment to the law and their client at every turn. Their controversial advocacy, along with evidence uncovered by a formidable military prosecutor, who at first was unwilling to accept the possibility that our government was lying about Slahi, uncovers shocking truths of relentless torture and forced confessions.

The movie is available on Netflix and various streaming services and is based on Slahi’s memoir Guantanamo Diaries. I cannot recommend it more highly. It is the kind of story out there in the mainstream media which reinforces the libertarian world view simply by virtue of telling it, and is the type of thing that libertarians should seek out and make known in our efforts to grow the movement and demand change, like closing the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison once and for all.

Lance Lamberton is a Georgia-based taxpayer-activist who founded the Cobb Taxpayers Association, which advocates for taxpayers on issues related to transportation, among others. In an earlier life, he served as the deputy director of the White House Office of Policy information under President Ronald Reagan.

6 thoughts on “How Evil Is the American Empire?: A Review of The Mauritanian (movie)”

  1. I never saw The Mauritanian. I will see it sometime. Since 9/11/01, democracy has slowly but surely been dying out. The prison at Guantanamo Bay should have been closed but it is still open and has gotten worse since the so-called “War On Terror”. Many prisoners are there for no reason and no evidence has been found to tie them to terrorism. If Devil’s Island were still open, some of the detainees would go there.

  2. The Mauritanian is an anti-US military, anti-Christian PSY OP. It juxtaposes the corrupt Alphabet Soup Secret Squirrel Shadow Warrior Spooks with Military Police. In the movie, the guys in civilian clothes are the white hats, and the military are the black hats. In reality, the opposite is true. In fact, no DoD personnel, uniformed or civilian, were trained in Enhanced Interrogation Techniques. Only corrupt Alphabet People are trained in these techniques. Al Qaeda and other terrorists are trained to LIE about their treatment in captivity. The film glosses over the fact that Slahi CONFESSED without telling his attorney. I know Slahi, have exchanged books with him, and I know that he is who he confessed to be. The movie seeks to establish him as a victim, and the US as an Evil entity. This is the same technique used by the corrupt Alphabet People in the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal. They used lower ranking, undertrained National Guard troops to “soften up” detainees for interrogation. None of the corrupt Alphabet People were ever punished.

    1. The CIA has trained you well. Nice pic of you with a cute kid. Such a good father; truthful, loving. Just so wonderfully wonderful. Justification of torture by candy coating it is sick.

      1. Me? You! You are the OP. You can Google me. You, on the other hand, are completely fictitious.

      2. Who tortured whom? I am certainly no Alphabet Soup Secret Squirrel Shadow Warrior Spook. Talk to them about torture. I am sick and tired of you lazy Pablum eaters accusing innocent, honorable US military personnel of war crimes without a shred of knowledge or evidence. All talk, no facts.

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