AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

shaphan I am in the US Army. This is not a documentary. It is made up of interspersed interviews with people who fit into four categories: families of civilian contractors who died, civilian contractors who survived an attack, eyewitnesses of wasteful spending by companies with government contracts, and former Soldiers of unknown character complaining about the use of civilian contractors in Iraq. Wrongdoing should be punished. This film never clears up whether it is against wasteful spending or against the use of civilian contractors altogether. The film's arguments are too broad and, sometimes, random and confusing. Several times, the statement is made that "this war has been privatized to a greater extent than any other war in history." This is an asinine comment. With a new type of war being fought over the course of almost a decade, now, of course private companies will be employed more than before. Statements like these are devoid of value in the greater debate of how to regulate wasteful spending by these large corporations. Another frustrating element of this film is that the images from Iraq are not related to the story being told at that time. It's confusing for the viewer. Interviews with people who had first-hand knowledge of the wasteful spending were effective, but few, and as a result, the filmmaker spread them throughout the film, which watered down the effectiveness of their accounts. Unfortunate. As a Soldier, I found the complaints about contractors living in better quarters than tent-bound Soldiers ridiculous. Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen have given their lives to their Country and are willing to sleep in muck and grime for the sake of the cause. Civilians, brave and heroic them all, need a softer touch. The men and women of the U.S. Military are happy to sleep wherever the mission takes us. Keep your pity to yourself. Of course Soldiers are going to living in the suck, suffer, bleed, and die; that's our calling. We love it! We're here, on the wall, so you don't have to be. Just say thank you and move on. The emotional outcry against Halliburton as a demonic overlord is very compelling; however, not backed by enough evidence to be completely persuasive. The speakers are mostly just making accusations that sound reasonable, but are not substantiated within the film itself. (This only makes the fact that there is a special feature on the DVD aimed at organizing protesters more laughable. Is it possible to organize protesters based solely on unsubstantiated claims, reasonable or not?) Someone is going to make money on the privatization of jobs by the U.S. Government. The American economy is built on the concept of companies doing what they can, within ethical boundaries, to make money. That shouldn't be discouraged. Only wrongful profiteering should be punished. This film does not clearly delineate between the two, so the viewer is never sure which is under attack. There are two redeeming qualities in the film: First, the opening story of the Blackwater employee, who died in an ambush, was touching. The family's argument that an ambush, by definition a surprise attack, could have been avoided was heart-wrenchingly naive. The second redeeming comment was the argument that more Iraqi civilians should have been hired, thereby getting them off the street and winning a PR battle, was very enlightening. (This approach worked in Germany and Korea.) Too bad the rest of the film is simply an emotional debate and not one backed up by actual evidence, but rather logical assumptions on the part of the individual interviewees. Pass this one up.

Shaft15902 This has to be one of the most overrated films of the past few years. The director, Robert Greenwald, does nothing to add to the information given in this documentary. At best this is a good news report. Don't get me wrong, the stories told are very important and WE SHOULD hear more about this type of these big companies taking our tax payer money to "rebuild". However, that said this film does not delve deep into the story here and does not do a good job in telling this story. The film is all over the place the editing is poor & if anything the choice in music takes away from the information. I was not impressed. To sum up my opinion: just because a story is good or important, does not mean that a film itself is good.

Jack Frizelle The content/style and political spin of this documentary should be no surprise to those that are familiar with Mr. Greenwald's prior work.One sided polemic.Although "Iraq for Sale" tries hard to impress upon its viewers the importance of curtailing war profiteering it does so in a repetitively boring way which - often resorting to documentary clichés like the cries of a grieving mother to punctuate a point, and distortions of truth all too common in political commentaries.Production values are frankly pathetic given the amount of money spent on the production.What is unfortunate is that this subject matter lends itself to a more unbiased hand - something like the recent documentary "Shadow Company" - which I was able to view on Capitol Hill alongside members of the Senate and Congress. If you want to see a more realistic primer on the world of private contracting - avoid "Iraq for Sale"

stphinkle This film shows how our tax dollars were wasted! We are paying contractors at prices far higher than what it costs us for the same thing. For example, buying new trucks every time one of them gets a minor maintenance problem. Another example of abuse is the fact that we are paying $99 per bag of laundry to get it washed by a contractor. Still another example of abuse, is that one of the contractors is supplying water to our troops that contains diseases in it for people to shower in. Also, it shows in detail how we paid to torture war prisoners. Another shocking detail was how the contractors did not get the proper equipment to protect themselves. Additionally, the contract workers were saying in 5-star hotels at night, while our troops were getting tents. What is even more shocking is the connections these companies have with officials, and how contracts to them were awarded without taking bids.Our country needs to stand up, and hold our people in the white house, congress, the justice department, and our military accountable for these actions. We have spent almost a half a trillion dollars on the Iraq War now, and billions of it were wasted in this abuse of our money by these private contractors. Thanks to Robert Greenwald for getting out the truth to the American public again!!!!!