Warner Bros. works valiantly to help Americans "connect the dots" . . .

Rating: 9/10 (30 January 2018)

. . . about our 21st Century History with 12 STRONG. Early on during 12 STRONG we are treated to a view of Red Commie KGB Chief Vlad "The Mad Russian" Putin muttering about unleashing his rabid mutt Osama Bin Laden against America. Later, the Weasel's defense secretary Rumsfeld is shown swallowing Putin's bait about "Weapons of Mass Destruction" to lure the U.S. into another disastrous quagmire. Between Afghanistan and Iraq (the proverbial gap separating a rock from a hard place), America has seen 10,000 of our own slain, 100,000 wounded, with a price tag of Three TRILLION bucks and counting. This is a far greater toll than that racked up by Russia in Afghanistan, and the Soviet Bear's modest losses were enough to rip apart the U.S.S.R. in into 15 pieces. "Afghanistan is where Empires go to die," the characters of 12 STRONG say in various ways at least seven times during this Docudrama. America has lost the War against Afghanistan just as surely as the campaign against Ho Chi Minh's Vietnam, with the past few days seeing two attacks in that failed nation's capital, the first of which killed two dozen at what passes for a "luxury" hotel and the second tearing more that 100 locals limb from limb. Tet Uprising, anyone? Any day now "Osama Bin Ladenville" will join "Ho Chi Minh City" as a world capital. If failed president Jimmy Carter had just done something useful (like nuking Iran, Russia, and Afghanistan) instead of boycotting the Olympics, we would not be in our sorry state Today, 12 STRONG suggests. The World would still have too many -Stans underfoot, but the U.S. would be a lot better off!