This is Where We Take Our Stand - Trailer from Displaced Films on Vimeo.
This is a controversial but powerful look into the Occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan from the witness and voices for those who have been there. You can view episodes 1-4 here and episode 5 & 6 here.I really don't think I have watched a more moving and in your face report about Iraq and Afghanistan...there were moments in these clips that I cried, got angry, feared and wanted to stand up and salute. It's not a series of clips that will leave you without something to talk about. And in the end isn't that what really should be going on? These soldiers have got something to say...and what's great is that they don't all share the same opinions on the wars...there are really human moments in this that lend credibility to the video to me. It's not simply one-sided perspective...the soldiers are honest in their positions....even if they differ. These are brave folks...I admire their courage, truthfulness and ache for their pain.
The series producers write:
Where’s the debate?
Are we watching passively while Barack Obama carries out the same policies as George W. Bush?
When an American bombing raid this May killed over two hundred civilians in a village in Afghanistan, it was met with a deafening silence. When Obama’s promised “withdrawal” from Iraq leaves 130,000 troops there for at least two more years and 50,000 permanently, it’s hailed as an end to the occupation. And who is demanding to know just what the mission really is when 30,000 more troops are sent to Afghanistan?
Where’s the debate?
In March of 2008, two hundred and fifty veterans and active duty soldiers marked the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by gathering in Washington, DC, to testify from their own experience about the nature of the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. It was chilling, horrifying, and challenging for all who witnessed it. Against tremendous odds, they brought the voices of the veterans themselves into the debate. That was then. This is now. Today, we present to you This is Where We Take Our Stand, the inside story of those three days and the courageous men and women who testified. And we present this story today, told in six episodes, because we believe it is as relevant now as it was one year ago. Maybe more.
Here is our challenge to you: Watch the series; spread it far and wide; and ask yourself is this about the past, or the present and future. Then add your voice. If you are a veteran or active duty, present your own testimony. If you are not, but you are still a living, breathing member of the human race, then do whatever you can to join and fan the flames of debate.
-Displaced Films and Northern Light Productions
4 comments:
After watching these videos, all I have to say is that this is not the military that I joined 13 years ago. I think about the Rules of Engagement and the Law of Armed Conflict and the annual briefings we were required to attend. I think about the sexual harassment briefings we were required to attend and the briefings that told us how we were to conduct ourselves when we were in another country and how we were not allowed to use racial slurs. I cannot wrap my mind around the reality that these people were subjected to and how it clashes with my own reality of how the military was when I was a member. I have been proud of my military service, but if this is what the military has become I am absolutely disgusted.
I have heard an entirely different story from soldiers who were over there. I have heard stories of how they would hand candy out to children and terrorist bombers would come and blow themselves up in the crowd, killing the soldier and the children. I have heard of insurgents and terrorists who would open fire on a military convoy, purposely while the military was driving through a town. The tales that have been told to me are entirely different than what I have seen here today. The tales I have heard included how grateful that the Iraqis were that we overthrew Sadaam Hussein and freed them from his tyranny.
All I kept thinking through this entire video was "The red coats are comingT The red coats are coming!" If what these soldiers are saying is true, it is genocide, pure and simple. In my bones I feel that everything that is being done goes against every American principle that we hold dear. Freedom from oppressors, freedom of speech. Freedom from soldiers occupying our homes.
If what is said in these videos is true, what we are doing is conquering to expand our kingdom. This is what it sounds like to me. We are trying to become an empire. These people are not being treated under our constitution. As a military member, it was drilled into me to treat others under our own constitution and also to respect their laws and culture.
This is not the military I knew.
What about Vietnam...Charity.
What about it? My point is that what I have experienced for myself as a military member and the things I have heard from military members who have served over there are very different than what I saw in the videos. I am not saying that these people are lying, I am just having a hard time lining up what they have testified to with my own reality.
My point was....
All wars have these stories.
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