Interview. Michael Tucker.

[T]he photographs taken at Abu Ghraib really obscure everything else that happened there. The Army and the government got off quite easily. They can say, "We handled that, we're punishing those soldiers, everything else is ok." And meanwhile, detainee operations went on. I believe now that there are between 14,000 and 16,000 detainees being held. At various times, over the last few years, Army officials have said that up to 70 percent of those people could be innocent. Of course, they are releasing people, but the process is quite slow. They've got massive detainee issues that the media hasn't looked into.

Michael Tucker, in conversation with David D'Arcy.

Back in the summer of 2004, I met with Michael Tucker to talk about a documentary he was editing, Gunner Palace, which would go on to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and become widely regarded as one of the best depictions of what day-by-day, hour-by-hour life is actually like for American troops serving in Baghdad. Of the many scenes that struck me, one stood out: "an Iraqi journalist speaks directly to the camera, claiming his innocence, as a soldier forces him at gunpoint to squat down, keep his hands behind his head, and above all, 'Shut up.' 'Yes, "shut up,"' the journalist tells the camera. 'You see this. You see what's happening.'"

Nearly two years later, this journalist, Yunis Khatayer Abbas, and Tucker met again, this time in Jordan. Abbas and his two brothers had been at Abu Ghraib and other facilities for nine months. The Prisoner, or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair, premiering at TIFF this year, tells his story. David D'Arcy spoke with Michael Tucker in Toronto.

Earlier: Michael Tucker's post to TIFF's Doc Blog.

Posted by dwhudson at September 19, 2006 2:52 AM