Death of a President - the Most Controversial Film

by Paul Davis
An ingenious, well-made political thriller! Winner of the International Critics' Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, Death of a President is a fictional 2008 TV documentary broadcast on the assassination of President George W. Bush on October 19th, 2007. As an American citizen...

An ingenious, well-made political thriller! Winner of the International Critics' Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, Death of a President is a fictional 2008 TV documentary broadcast on the assassination of President George W. Bush on October 19th, 2007.

As an American citizen, I would never endorse nor encourage the assassination of this or any President of the United States. Regardless of whether or not I agree or disagree with a President's policy and ideology, I firmly believe the integrity of the office should be upheld.

Freedom and truth are competing rights and interests of the protestors in the film, as they take to the streets to express their disapproval of President Bush and the war in Iraq. Chicago police and riot police were pushed over the edge by the protestors who seemingly got out of hand and crossed designated barricades for the President's personal safety.

Alternatively, many innocent protestors were harassed by police, who became physically abusive. Most interestingly about the movie was the way the U.S. government and media were quick to jump to conclusions and falsely accuse a Syrian man of the murder of the President. When a retired military man was later found to have committed the murder, the government and media were ready to exonerate the real murderer preferring to link the President's murder to al Qaeda.

Why would the government and media prefer to falsely accuse and imprison a Syrian for the President's murder? A couple reasons. It adds to the hysteria and fear factor enabling the warmongers to move forward throughout the Middle East. The media can sell more magazines and newspapers. And it is easier to disassociate the murder when the accused is an outsider from another distant country.

Thoughts of a Presidential murder coming from a retired U.S. military soldier doesn't give the country warm, patriotic, fuzzy feelings. Neither does it endear the military to the national politicians, who might begin to fear for their lives should they undertake an unpopular policy.

Innocent people, no matter their national origin, never deserve to be false accused and imprisoned. I've been to Pakistan twice since 9/11. Should I therefore also be accused and imprisoned for conspiring to kill the President? Such is absurd. On the contrary, I was doing ministry in churches in Faisalabad. I also eat with a Syrian man every month on American soil. Should that be thought to be suspicious? I think not. The Syrian man is more supportive of Pres. Bush than I am.

As Ghandi who revolutionized India taught, protests must be done peaceably if they are to be effective. Anything less and protests shall be fruitless causing more harm than good.

The intelligence community in America should be earnest and cautious when given hypotheses and conspiracy theories. Sadly a pattern has been occurring in America, whereby first a hypothesis of guilt is made, after which intelligence works backwards to gather sustainable evidence to connect the dots. This brought about the WMD debacle in Iraq, where there was no evidence whatsoever to sustain the allegations.

Let us beware and take every precaution not to injure the innocent and to vocalize our passions peaceably.

Paul Davis is a worldwide minister, peacemaker, mediator, and life purpose coach (relational & professional).

Paul is the author of several books including Breakthrough for a Broken Heart; Adultery: 101 Reasons Not to Cheat; Are You Ready for True Love; Stop Lusting & Start Living; Waves of God; Supernatural Fire; Poems that Propel the Planet; and God vs. Religion.

Paul's compassion for people & passion to travel has taken him to over 50 countries of the world where he has had a tremendous impact. Paul has served in many war-torn, impoverished and tsunami stricken regions of the earth. His Dream-Maker Inc. is building dreams, breaking limitations & reviving nations.

Paul's Breakthrough Seminars inspire, revive, awaken, impregnate with purpose, impart the fire of desire, catapult people into a new level of self-awareness, facilitate destiny discovery and dream fulfillment.