Lebanon

This is a terrific film about war and memory. It plays with your mind especially because it is an animated documentary -- the only such thing ever made, I think. It also is a good meditation on the difference between what you think might be going on across a battlefield and what is really going on. That's a lesson for any commander -- and for any journalist covering combat.

It is ostensibly about the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, but it really felt more like what poorly prepared soldiers might feel in any war. It is out on Netflix now. I recommend watching it twice in one sitting: First just the film, and then the director's commentary, which is like another layer of the story. (Also I noticed a lot more in the background in the second go-round.)

My favorite part was the one-minute version of Apocalypse Now, set in Lebanon. Wordlessly, it summarizes everything that goes wrong in a war.

My wife thinks it should be a double feature with The Hurt Locker. That's a bit too much PTSD for me in one bite.

Ya'akov Sa'ar/GPO via Getty Images

This is an interesting turn of events: Back in the 1980s, according to Jeff Stein in CQ, Iranian opposition leader Mousavi played a key role in the Beirut terror campaign that hit the U.S. embassy and the Marine barracks.

Mikey aka DaSkinnyBlackMan in Iraq/Flickr 

I'd like to know why Hezbollah is being so quiet on the Israeli-Lebanese border. I would think this would be the opportune time for them to make moves. Shows what I know.