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Tye Sheridan, left, and Alden Ehrenreich in a scene from The Yellow Birds. Photograph: AP

Terrence Malicks The Thin Red Line proved that you could make a beautiful movie about war. The Yellow Birds, a Sundance premiere from French director Alexandre Moors, is the first attempt at a beautiful movie about post-traumatic stress disorder.

The most memorable parts of this Iraq war drama are those detached from the overall story. The Bible-quoting soldier pouring salt over a scorched battlefield, the decision-making when a patrol group discovers a body bomb, a pre-assault interview in which soldiers are asked if this is the most important day of their life.

Moors, whose last effort, Blue Caprice, was a spectacular and surreal examination of the DC sniper incident, excels at creating mood. He has a nose for unorthodox camera placement, shooting from the inside of mailboxes or roving around the sides of convenience stores as the painted brick walls take on an inexplicably ominous quality.

But in time Yellow Birds story threatens to ruin the whole experience. A diced-up timeline means rooting through each scene for clues, but three main characters begin to emerge. Alden Ehrenreich and his enormous, sad eyes is Pvt Bartle, who is tasked by Sgt Sterling (Jack Huston) to keep an eye on mamas boy Murph (Tye Sheridan). The kid can shoot and run fast but, the sergeant is quick to confess to Bartle, he just isnt made for this place.

This place is Iraq, with an extra layer of haze over its fog of war. During the new recruits first mission they may or may not have killed a carload of civilians. Attacks come at all times and without warning, even at a Christmas party.

Back home, Amy and Maureen, Bartle and Murphs mothers (Toni Collette, sarcastic, Jennifer Aniston, all business), worry about their boys in different ways. Bartle makes it back but spends most of his time in bed or drinking. Murphs disappearance sends Maureen on a quixotic run at the US army for more information. She carries a leather binder bursting with maps and letters to a fruitless meeting with her congressman, clinging as best she can to a semblance of hope.

Though Anistons performance is fine, her story arc is dangerously low on oomph. Watching Ehrenreich guzzle beer and hide his face in his pillow is, weirdly enough, oddly compelling. Seeing the battle-worn fighter devolve into a bratty teen in the safety of his mothers house is just about the saddest representation of PTSD put to film.

Clearly theres something no one is telling us about what happened to Murph, but the big reveal is something of a disappointment. Unless this is some grand meta statement about the complexity of war, the ending offers more befuddlement than closure. Perhaps one must accept that we shouldnt second-guess these men until we do a mind-scrambling tour against Iraqi insurgents ourselves.

Yellow Birds goes heavy on the brooding, and even though a lot of it looks gorgeous and carries the whiff of great importance it is ultimately stunted by a central event that isnt worth the mystery that surrounds it. While many sequences in Yellow Birds are striking, overall it fails to take flight.

See the rest here:
The Yellow Birds review Iraq war PTSD made beautiful but baffling - The Guardian

FILE PHOTO: A worker checks the valves at Al-Sheiba oil refinery in Basra, Iraq, January 26, 2016. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani/File Photo

By Ahmad Ghaddar

LONDON (Reuters) - Iraq has reduced its oil production by around 180,000 barrels per day and plans to cut a further 30,000 bpd before the end of the month, the OPEC member's oil minister said on Monday.

The cut came from a 4.75 million bpd level, Jabar Ali al-Luaibi told reporters at an industry event at Chatham House in London.

"We are abiding by OPEC policy and the OPEC agreement," Luaibi said.

Iraq agreed to lower its production by 210,000 bpd under a deal struck in December between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers led by Russia.

The Middle Eastern country, OPEC's second-largest producer, had originally sought to be exempt from any cuts, saying it needed the revenue to fight an Islamic State insurgency.

"We are cutting from all Iraq," Luaibi said, although he added that cuts to production started at fields operated by national oil companies.

He said the ministry had contacted international oil companies operating in the country about the cuts and so far received a "good response" from most of them.

He said Russia's Lukoil, which operates the West Qurna-2 oilfield, told him recently that the company was prepared to lower output by 20,000 bpd without compensation.

"BP as well and some other companies are responding," he added.

"So far everything is moving smoothly as far as the oil companies are concerned."

(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar; Editing by Dale Hudson)

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Iraq has cut 180000 bpd as part of OPEC oil deal - minister - Yahoo Finance

BAGHDAD (AP) Iraq's prime minister has ordered an investigation into violations of human rights and other abuses purportedly committed by government troops and paramilitary forces battling the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul.

Haider al-Abadi says the probe will examine "cases of kidnappings, mistreatment and violations" against civilians. Al-Abadi blamed "groups that exploit the good name" of Iraqi regular forces and Shiite and Sunni paramilitaries for such incidents.

Monday's statement also says that the abuses are recorded and then posted on social media to "defame the real image of the brave security forces and their sacrifices."

Al-Abadi's statement came days after the U.N. demanded a government probe into a video purportedly showing brutal treatment and killing of at least three IS suspects in a newly-taken area in eastern Mosul.

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Iraq premier orders probe into violations by troops in Mosul - Joplin Globe

UNHCR STEPS UP WINTER ASSISTANCE AS SNOW STORMS HIT SEVERAL PARTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

Since the start of the year, freezing cold has gripped the Middle East, accompanied by strong winds and rain. In Turkey, heavy snowfall and below-freezing temperatures have enveloped most parts of the country. In Lebanon, fresh snow last week has blanketed the high-altitude towns in the Bekaa valley and northern Lebanon. Parts of Syria and Iraq have been hit by snowstorms as tens of thousands of newly-displaced struggle to find adequate warmth in tents and sub-standard shelter. The longer the cold temperatures continue, the more difficult it becomes for the millions of internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees, many of whom are living in vulnerable conditions in substandard housing and without means to insulate homes.

UNHCR is implementing a number of proactive and emergency efforts to identify and immediately respond to the most vulnerable who may not be able to cope ensuring that the elderly and children are warm, safe and have access to needed support. Teams are working around the clock in refugee camps fixing storm damage and ensuring immediate responses and referrals for those in need. Core relief items have been prepositioned, ready for immediate release. These emergency interventions are through UNHCR's own staff, government agencies, partners, community outreach volunteers, and the broader inter-agency response platforms.

UNHCR is particularly concerned about the situation of people living in desperate conditions in locations severally affected by winter and where there is no humanitarian access, particularly in several besieged and hard-to-reach locations inside Syria, at the Berm (Jordan-Syria border) and in western Mosul city in Iraq.

Read more:
Regional Emergency Winter Assistance Flash Update - Syria and Iraq situations as of 22 January 2017 - ReliefWeb

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump told the CIA on Saturday that the so-called Islamic State probably would never have existed if the United States had seized Iraqs oilfields, a claim that flies in the face of the analysis of most foreign policy experts and international law.

In unprepared remarks introducing his pick to lead the intelligence agency, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), Trump told CIA officials that when the United States went into Iraq, we should have kept the oil.

Now I said it for economic reasons, Trump said. But if you think about it, Mike, if we kept the oil, you probably wouldnt have ISIS because thats where they made their money in the first place, so we should have kept the oil. But, OK, maybe well have another chance.

Its a claim that Trump repeatedly used on the campaign trail. But the presidents willingness to tell the CIA and, indeed, the international community that he thinks the United States should have looted a countrys resources is a new mark in foreign diplomacy and yet another signal that there will be no shift to more responsible rhetoric now that Trump represents the country as its leader.

The strategy of taking Iraqs oil is plainly in violation of multiple international laws and United Nations agreements.

Politifact looked into this claim from Trump in September and found a number of reasons why taking Iraqs oil, as Trump advocates, would be illegal.

What Trump seems to be advocating here would be a fundamental violation of international law embodied in numerous international agreements and in recognized principles of customary international law, said Anthony Clark Arend, a Georgetown University professor of government and foreign service.

Specifically, Arend cited the Annex to the Hague Convention of 1907 on theLaws and Customs of War, which says that private property ... must be respected (and) cannot be confiscated. It also says that pillage is formally forbidden.

In addition, Arend said, the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to theProtection of Civilian Persons in Times of War provides that any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.

Richard D. Rosen, the director of Texas Tech Universitys Center for Military Law & Policy, added that Trumps idea appears to constitute aggression of the type condemned by the United Nations by resolution in 1974. The resolution states that any military occupation, however temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack, or any annexation by the use of force of the territory of another State or part thereof qualifies as an act of aggression.

Arend said the only way he could envision an idea like Trumps being acceptable under international law would stem from sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council. But that would be moot in this case since the 2003 Iraq War was not undertaken with the approval of the Security Council.

Foreign policy experts also seem to think taking Iraqs oil would neither be feasible, nor desirable.

Experts cited the long-term damage to the United States reputation as an imperial force seizing the natural resources of countries, as well as the practical challenges in actually taking a countrys oil. Devoting such a large number of troops to pillaging oilfields and protecting oil pipelines and transportation routes would require a more permanent presence in Iraq and far more troops than the United States has available.

Its also difficult to see how looting oil would better U.S. standing in Iraq and not lead to more extremism.

But hey, in Trumps words, maybe well have another chance.

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See the article here:
President Trump Just Told The CIA The U.S. Should Have Stolen Iraq's Oil - Huffington Post