From today's Associated Press:

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Updated: 12:34 PM EST
In Turkish Movie, Americans Kill Innocents
Gary Busey, Billy Zane Co-Star in Anti-American Film

By BENJAMIN HARVEY, AP

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Feb. 2) - In the most expensive Turkish movie ever made, 
American soldiers in Iraq crash a wedding and pump a little boy full of lead in 
front of his mother.

They kill dozens of innocent people with random machine gun fire, shoot the 
groom in the head, and drag those left alive to Abu Ghraib prison - where a 
Jewish doctor cuts out their organs, which he sells to rich people in New York, 
London and Tel Aviv.

"Valley of the Wolves Iraq" - set to open in Turkey on Friday - feeds off the 
increasingly negative feelings many Turks harbor toward their longtime NATO 
allies: Americans.

The movie, which reportedly cost some $10 million, is the latest in a new 
genre of popular culture that demonizes the United States. It comes on the heels 
of a novel called "Metal Storm" about a war between Turkey and the U.S., which 
has been a best seller for months.

One recent opinion poll revealed the depth of the hostility in Turkey toward 
Americans: 53 percent of Turks who responded to the 2005 Pew Global Attitudes 
survey associated Americans with the word "rude"; 70 percent with "violent"; 
68 percent with "greedy"; and 57 percent with "immoral."

Advance tickets are already selling out across Turkey for the film, which has 
dialogue in Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish and English. In addition to Turkey, the 
film is set to be shown in more than a dozen other countries - including the 
United States, Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Britain, Denmark, Russia, 
Egypt, Syria and Australia.

The movie's American stars are Billy Zane, who plays a self-professed 
"peacekeeper sent by God," and Gary Busey as the Jewish-American doctor.

U.S. soldiers have become hate figures in Muslim countries around the world 
after the unpopular war in Iraq. But here in Turkey, a personal grudge fuels 
the resentment.

"Valley of the Wolves Iraq" opens with a true story: On July 4, 2003, in 
Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq, troops from the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade 
raided and ransacked a Turkish special forces office, threw hoods over the heads 
of 11 Turkish special forces officers, and held them in custody for more than 
two days.

The Americans said they had been looking for Iraqi insurgents and unwittingly 
rounded up the Turks because they were not in uniform. Still, the incident 
damaged Turkish-U.S. relations and hurt Turkish national pride. Turks 
traditionally idolize their soldiers; most enthusiastically send their sons off for 
mandatory military service.

In the movie, one of the Turkish special forces officers commits suicide to 
save his honor. His farewell letter reaches Polat Alemdar, an elite Turkish 
intelligence officer who travels to northern Iraq with a small group of men to 
avenge the humiliation.

There they find a rogue group of U.S. soldiers led by officer Sam William 
Marshall - played by Zane. In the bloodfest that ensues, the small band of Turks 
bonds with the people of Iraq and eventually ends American atrocities there, 
killing Zane and his men in the final scene.

"The scenario is great," Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas told The Associated 
Press after the film was shown at a posh opening gala Tuesday night. "It was very 
successful. ... a soldier's honor must never be damaged."

But Topbas and other Turks at the premiere weren't too concerned about how 
the movie would be perceived in the United States.

"There isn't going to be a war over this," said Nefise Karatay, a Turkish 
model lounging on a sofa after the premiere. "Everyone knows that Americans have 
a good side. That's not what this is about."

Associated Press Writer Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara contributed to this report.

02/02/06 08:42 EST

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If you're upset by this, don't be. We've been making movies for years where 
swarthy middle-Eastern types have been the villians, and yet "everyone knows 
that they have a good side, too."

Wirt Atmar

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