By: Greg Mitchell Did you go out and rent "The Battle of Algiers" a couple years back when word emerged that viewing this 1960s masterpiece on anti-insurgent warfare was now practically required viewing in certain Pentagon and government offices?
No? Well, maybe this will get you going: President Bush revealed in his "60 Minutes" interview that he is now reading (at the urging of Henry Kissinger) Alistair Horne's classic book on the French 1954-1962 colonial adventure in Algeria, "A Savage War of Peace."
So what are you waiting for? Find this DVD. Even without its obvious relevance, the movie is must-viewing anyway, a critics' favorite for decades -- so vivid it surely must be a documentary, but is not.
Here are two clips. The first is the movie trailer. The second really resonates today: The lead French military officer explains to the press why he has to brutally suppress the insurgency -- isn't this what the French, and their newspapers, want? Then we see graphic images of beatings and torture.
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Click here to watch.
Click here to watch.
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Previous: Last year, Stephen Colbert "entertained" the president at the White House Correspondents Dinner. This year they are welcoming....Rich Little. Here's a little Little, off Letterman:
Click here to watch.
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For MLK Day, Sam Cooke singing the most powerful, if not greatest, song of our time, "A Change Is Gonna Come," over a montage of Black History images.
Click here to watch.
And here's the Dylan version:
Click here to watch.
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