Today, few buy the Bush administration’s rationale for the Iraq War. The perilous decision was based on shaky grounds. In their 2015 musical comedy Who’s Your Baghdaddy?, Or How I Started the Iraq War, creators Marshall Pailet and A.D. Penedo have gathered those CIA agents—the ones whose bad intelligence sent troops to the Middle East—into a support group where they must accept responsibility for at least 200,000 deaths. If farce feels wrong for such a serious topic, the absurdist tone actually points up the serious downside of petty bureaucracy. Flashbacks show how careerist ambitions, vanity, ego, and credulity worked together to create an unsupported case for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. In this virtual edition of the play—produced in Australia—zoom replaces the meeting room, and a cast of strong vocalists successfully brings the show into the digital era. —C.J.F.
The Arts Intel Report
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler