The movie paints Muslims as bloodthirsty villains plotting unspeakable violence against the United States. In other words, even if they had been unarmed, Col. Childers should have mowed 'em down anyway. You're tempted to wonder what the filmmakers had in mind. There's always something going on. Let's just make up some generic crises and toss a few hundred cliches at it.
Little attempt is made to humanize Yemeni people.
On screen, except for a doctor and a one-legged girl on crutches, they are stock villains, human cattle ready for herding and slaughter to demonstrate the right and might of the U.S. policeman's role. That's all we know, and director William Friedkin and screenwriter Stephen Gaghan seem to believe that that's all we need to know, since, you know, we're talking about Arabs here. The words 'terrorists' and 'jihad' are tossed in to reinforce the stereotype.