Once Upon a Time in Iraq, BBC 2, Wednesday
There are no good international conflicts, but the US invasion of Iraq has to be the most disastrous in living memory.
The madness of it is fairly straightforward to understand. The US had been attacked by Muslim fundamentalists on its own soil in September 2011 and after the invasion of Afghanistan to wipe out Al-Qaeda, the hawks in the Bush administration decided to settle some old scores in Iraq.
Britain provided the mudguard for this operation and the ultimately unfruitful search for “weapons of mass destruction” began in March 2003.
The US didn’t have much of a plan for what would happen after they got rid of Saddam Hussein and when a decision was taken to stand down the (admittedly corrupt) police and army and stand by as looters destroyed hospitals, museums, the central bank and all the infrastructure of government, there was no way back.
Iraq descended into a tribal and religious conflict and a partial resistance to the US invasion. Iran, a long time enemy of Saddam, intervened to pursue its interests and Syrian became the main smuggling route for the remnants of Al-Qaeda.
The consequences for the entire region are obvious.
Once Upon a Time in Iraq is five-part documentary telling this story through those who lived it. For the first episode this included Iraqi civilians, journalists, US soldiers, and Saddam loyalists.
The first section dealt with the almost good, last few weeks of Saddam where the dictator kept control and people had freedom, except to criticise him of course.
It opened with film footage from a US and Iraqi TV linkup in 2003 where two groups of young people discussed the coming conflict.
An 18-year-old Baghdad heavy metal fan who was “infatuated with the west” says the US should leave Saddam alone.
The producers managed to track down Waleed Neysif, now an urbane man in his mid-30s, who explained what was really going on. He was “pro war” at the time but obviously couldn’t say that on TV.
He laughs now when he recalls that he believed the notion that the US would remove Saddam and everything would be great.
There were also excellent contributions from a New York Times journalist who was emotional when he recounted how US soldiers allowed the looting of the country with the exception of one government department, the Ministry of Oil.
However, the star turn was Rudy Reyes, a former US Marine specialist who drank from a bottle of tequila before he started.
Striking looking, with a sleeveless army shirt (all the better to show off his muscles) and an Arab scarf around his neck, the former force reconnaissance specialist told of machine-gunning whole families and killing without feeling.
Iraq and Syria are now even more complicated with the US no longer the only state projecting power.
Russia, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia are involved in conflicts in the region and the increasingly belligerent China is now challenging the US as the world’s superpower.
Once Upon A Time In Iraq is a different type of explainer but is a useful contribution to one of the most miserable of human conflicts.
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Being Beethoven, BBC 4, Monday
The second part of this Beethoven biography dealt with the middle part of this career, from 1803 to 1812.
Despite many attempts at love, Beethoven was unable to find a wife and combined with the continued loss of his hearing, drove him into despair.
But the most difficult part of his personal life was the most triumphant of his artistic.
He completed symphonies 3 to 7 and hundreds of other pieces of music.
Unfortunate evidence that creativity often thrives in misery.
