Rings True

I've come across a few conservative critics of the movie Syriana in my random web surfing. A pretty typical example is this Charles Krauthammer piece. Basically this these critics boil down to the contention that Syriana's vision of corruption and US foreign policy is just a Hollywood fantasy. Which brings us to the new TPMMuckraker, explorer of all things corrupt. One of the revelations: Mitchell Wade - the defense contractor who bought off Duke Cunningham, also set up an outfit called the "Iranian Democratization Foundation." Oh and it also appears that Wade was buying off people inside the CIA and White House for defense contracts. Syriana featured a shadowy "Democracy for Iran" group that seemed to consisted of nothing but well-aged white men. There is a pretty good reason that Syriana rings true, despite Krauthammer's protestations that US foreign policy is noble and incorruptible. That reason is called the news.

Some trust fund prosecutor, got off-message at Yale, thinks he's gonna run this up the flagpole, make a name for himself, maybe get elected some two-bit, no-name congressman from nowhere, with the result that Russia or China can suddenly start having, at our expense, all the advantages we enjoy here. No, I tell you. No, sir. "But, Danny, these are sovereign nations." Sovereign nations. What is a sovereign nation, but a collective of greed run by one individual? "But, Danny, they're codified by the U.N. charter!" Legitimized gangsterism on a global basis that has no more validity than an agreement between the Crips and the Bloods! Corruption charges. Corruption? Corruption ain't nothing more than government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulation. That's Milton Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel Prize. We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection. Corruption is what keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around here instead of fighting each other for scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win.

--Syriana