Can We Pitch This To Spielberg?

Steve Fainaru and Anthony Shadid write parts of In Iraq Jail, Resistance Goes Underground on A1 like it's a treatment for a Hollywood script--but they're a little confused about who the bad guys are. The subhed gives a taste--Escape Tunnel, Improvised Weapons Show Determination of Inmates--and the photo on the front page, of a determined inmate standing behind barbed wire in desert garb, could be used in the promotional posters. Excerpts:

The discovery of what came to be known as "The Great Escape" tunnel was a seminal moment for the Americans charged with guarding Iraq's exploding prison population. It underscored the fact that the guards were not simply policing more than 6,000 detainees but, in their own way, fighting an enemy that exhibited the same complexity and resilience inside the prison's chain-linked fences and miles of coiled razor wire as it did in the most embattled streets of Iraq. For the inmates, the fight had never stopped....

"I guess we were kind of naive when we first got here," said Sgt. 1st Class John Freeman, of Marion, N.C., who was put in charge of detainee operations at Bucca. "It was like, 'Hey, they're inside a fence. They don't have anything they can hurt us with.' We learned quickly."...

Challoub, who was wounded twice in the foot by nonlethal bullets, said that within hours hundreds of prisoners had joined the fight. Many shouted, "There is no god but God!" and "We are ready to die for you, Moqtada!"

Detainees in later interviews claimed to have held the compound for more than a week. Challoub and others said they were imbued with the spirit of Imam Mahdi, a messianic figure central to Shiite belief. They celebrated the courage of fighting a battle they knew they would lose.

"We wouldn't let them see us suffer," said Abu Abdullah Saadi, another Mahdi Army veteran released from the camp.

"We fought bravely, we fought like heroes," Challoub said. "Despite hunger, despite our injuries, we still fought."

After which we read about the "engineering miracle" of the escape tunnel.

The story must have missed some method of romanticizing the plucky prisoners and their determined sense of determination, but I can't think of one.

Wars have sides, guys. Nice recruitment flyer.