Why We Fight
A Film by Eugene Jarecki
Why We Fight, the new film by Eugene Jarecki which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, is an unflinching look at the anatomy of the American war machine, weaving unforgettable personal stories with commentary by a “who’s who” of military and beltway insiders. Featuring John McCain, Gore Vidal, William Kristol, Chalmers Johnson, Richard Perle and others, “Why We Fight” launches a bipartisan inquiry into the workings of the military industrial complex and the rise of the American Empire. (via)
Click here to watch the trailer.
THE GROUND TRUTH: After the Killing Ends
A Film by Patricia Foulkrod
Please come out to the Sundance Film Festival and support a CODEPINK member as she screens her newest documentary about soldiers returning from the war in Afghanistan & Iraq. This poignant film was one of only a few films about the war accepted into Sundance this year! See the info below and come out and support!
THE GROUND TRUTH: After the Killing Ends, takes an unflinching look at the training and dehumanization of US soldiers, and how they struggle to come to terms with it when they come back home.
This film overrides familiar images of heroic soldiers in battle, and overjoyed returning faces, reunited with their families with one effortless stroke. Instead, we see a scenario that can include illness, amputation and injury, depression and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), of which Iraq has become a fertile breeding ground. While America’s poor treatment of veterans is not news to most, The Ground Truth makes it so personal and real, it is impossible to dismiss its characters simply as war statistics.
The film gives us glimpses into a Marine Corps boot camp that allows us to comprehend how a man or woman can kill as part of their job. We get hit with more understanding of our soldiers’ dehumanization by seeing Iraq combat footage that shows routine indiscriminate killing. Their jobs over, the confusion, guilt and shame that comes home with these “killers” is the tip of the iceberg. Left with few resources and families that cannot understand what they have seen or done, their anguish only intensifies. Foulkrod’s graphic footage and still-photographs of the ground conflict in Iraq, should forever shatter the sanitized images found on the nightly news and provide a much needed wake-up call for all of us.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
I produced and directed The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends because I felt it was time to stop hiding behind the politics
It became clear while filming, that the broken hearts and shattered lives that I was seeing were so invisible. The suffering was profound and pervasive – whether people were for or against the Iraq War. I knew I had to show just how insidious the effects of killing in combat are – whether in self-defense or not — and to create a dialogue about how we can change our “consciousness of killing.” I wanted to capture the ongoing pain and betrayal that returning soldiers experience when their psychological and physical needs are not recognized or cared for.
So I tried to create a film that might blow the yellow ribbons off the trees, and encourage people to really wrap their arms around our soldiers and their families. I wanted us to sit with the broken hearts and troubled minds of these young veterans, so we can take responsibility for their suffering, that is being experienced in our name.
— Patricia Foulkrod, January 2006
FEATURED BIOS
(SOLDIERS WHO WILL BE ATTENDING SUNDANCE)
Specialist, US Army, Robert Acosta
When Acosta turned 18, he joined the army to get out of Santa Ana and see the world. He said of his decision, “if it weren’t for the army, I’d probably be locked up right now.” On July 13, 2003, he was gravely injured when a grenade was thrown into his Humvee. As he tried to throw the grenade out, it exploded. Acosta’s left leg was shattered, and he lost his right hand. After returning home to Santa Ana, Acosta began to wonder what his military experience and time in Iraq was worth. He started questioning the hard-sell recruitment tactics that made had made so many promises and delivered on none. He moved in with his girlfriend Sandy Restrepo and decided the best way to educate young people and find peace with his own decisions, was to engage in counter recruitment activities. Acosta and Restrepo now work actively as military counter recruiters in Orange County, California area high schools; in the hope they can help students make informed decisions about their futures.
Private First Class, US Army, Herold Noel
Noel, originally from Brooklyn, NY, served as a Private First Class with the 3rd Infantry Division. Less than a year after driving trucks, that delivered fuel to the front lines in Iraq, he found himself unemployed, homeless, and unable to provide for his wife and four children. After being honorably discharged, Noel moved back to New York, believing he’d be able create a better life for his family in his home town, but he soon discovered that the support for returning vets if often severely lacking. He visited the Housing Authority, the VA, and New York’s city shelter for families, filling out forms and being put on waiting lists for housing. While his wife and four children moved in with family members, Noel stayed in shelters, slept in his car and felt cast off by the very system he felt he had fought to support. Thanks to the combined efforts of Operation Truth/IAVA and the New-York based homelessness organization Common Ground, he is now living comfortably with his family in the Bronx.
Medic and Military Policeman, CO National Guard, Kelly Dougherty
Dougherty served 8 years in the Colorado Army National Guard. She was deployed in the Balkans from 1999-2000 and in Kuwait and Iraq From February 2003 to February 2004. She came home from Iraq completely disillusioned by the human cost of war for both veterans and Iraqis, and became an outspoken opponent of the conflict. Dougherty became the co-founder and Southwestern coordinator of Iraq Vets Against the War and has spoken extensively in the US and abroad. She graduated from the University of Colorado in 2004 with a BS in Biology and is looking forward to attending ultrasound school in 2006. She currently resides in Colorado Springs.
1st LT. Platoon Leader, U.S. Nat. Guard, Paul Rieckhoff
Paul Rieckhoff, 30, enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves on September 15, 1998 and then served in the U.S. Army Reserves, as a Specialist with the 812th Military Police Company. Later, while working Wall Street, he transferred to the New York Army National Guard, graduating from Officer Candidate School in June 2001, where he was named a Distinguished Military Graduate. Rieckhoff left his position at J.P. Morgan on September 8, 2001 with plans to complete additional military training. September 11th changed his plans. He would soon served as a Platoon Leader in Iraq and returned to the US, nearly a year later, in February 2003. Determined to help the American public wake up and understand the war, and the conditions soldiers face in Iraq and at home, Paul created IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America – formerly Operation Truth), which now has hundreds of soldiers in the war zone and at home, coming together to create change. Still serving in the New York Army National Guard, Rieckhoff’s first book, an account of his experiences titled Chasing Ghosts, is scheduled for publication by Penguin in 2006.
Corporal, USMC, Sean Huze
Huze, originally from Baton Rouge, LA, was a working actor in Los Angeles until September 11, 2001. On September 12th, 2001 Sean walked into the Marine Corps recruiter’s office in Hollywood, CA and enlisted into the USMC. Serving with in the field with the 2nd LAR, he saw action from Nasirya to Tikrit. The unit pushed the furthest North of any Marine Corps unit during major hostilities. Huze received an honorable discharge in 2005 related to an injury he sustained in Nasirya. He was awarded a Certificate of Commendation citing his “courage and self sacrifice throughout sustained combat operations” while in Iraq. He has also been awarded the Combat Action Ribbon, Meritorious Promotion for Corporal, The Presidential Unit Citation, The Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, The National Defense Service Medal, and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. Huze is the author of the critically acclaimed play Sandstorm: Stories From the Front, which had two successful runs in LA and is currently in production in Washington, D.C. and Weasel, which made its debut at the Kennedy Center’s Page 2 Stage Festival. He recently completed his third play The Dragon Slayer, which tackles Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and has recently been optioned by HK Pictures with principal photography scheduled to begin in April 2006.
US Army Reserve Specialist, Denver Jones
A native of rural North Carolina, Jones had been in the Army Reserves for over fifteen years. He re-enlisted after 9/11 and was deployed to Iraq. For the first time in his many years in the military, he became greatly disillusioned with the management of a conflict and also felt his capabilities undervalued. Jones was severely injured in a Humvee accident that shattered his spine and damaged his bladder. Aside from his physical injuries and as a result of his wartime experience, Jones also battles PTSD. He once enjoyed employment as a Federal Express mechanic, making $65,000 a year, now he is completely disabled, feels abandoned by his government and isolated from his community.
Other Ways You Can Help
The Soldier’s Solution
Below are a few organizations that need your support so they can assist soldiers and their families with immediate and long-term care. We encourage you to research and contact these groups. Please contact us if you have information to share or if you would like your organization to be linked with The Ground Truth.org.
Veterans Administration VET Centers – www.va.gov/res
IAVA – www.IAVA.org (Operation Truth)
Vets4Vets.org – www.vets4vets.org
Iraq Veterans Against the War – www.ivaw.org
Military Families Speak Out – www.MFSO.org
Gold Star families for Peace – www.GSFP.org
National Gulf War Resource Center – www.NGWRC.org
Operation One – www.operationone.org
Vietnam Veterans Against the War – www.VVAW.org
Veterans for Peace – www.VFP.org
Arlington West – www.arlingtonwest.org
See you there!
The CODEPINK Team
If you haven’t signed on to the our new women’s global call for peace, go to www.womensaynotowar.org
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