Rory Stewart examines the writings of Lawrence of Arabia, and learns that the warrior hero himself later questioned the very nature of his intervention in the Middle East.
Seeking a model for how to fight and win in the Middle East, the American military is turning to an extraordinary source – Lawrence of Arabia. Today, the writing of Thomas Edward Lawrence is required reading in some US military academies.
But for Rory Stewart, a former soldier and diplomat in post-war Iraq, this surprising story has a darker message: Lawrence might have won his desert war and been hailed a warrior hero, but the political deals that followed fatally undermined his success.
In two films, Rory Stewart explains why he believes that Lawrence, as a result, came to the bitter conclusion that foreign military interventions in the Middle East are fundamentally unworkable and should not take place.
Genre: Documentary
