The human cost of war

[Selatius]

Have any of you seen this yet? I'd like you guys to view it and then give your opinions. I'm interested in your responses. I found it to be absolutely heart-breaking.

http://www.guerrillanews.com/videos/video.php?id=31

Large files. Please be patient!

Director’s note: The Ground Truth: The Human Cost of War is a work in progress produced and directed by Patricia Foulkrod and in association with Operation Truth, an non-profit organization created by Iraq veteran Paul Rieckhoff. This film is our soldiers’ perspective of the Iraq War, and how they are being treated upon returning home. It goes beyond the war stories to look underneath our American tradition of engaging in war and then abandoning the warrior.

We see the dreams and harsh realities that set up many soldiers and their families for a lifetime of heartbreak. Americans, on the Right and Left, living in Blue and Red states, spend billions of their tax money recruiting, training, and paying soldiers to kill in distant wars. Yet, we provide little assistance and marginal support once the killing is over, and soldiers come home, now expected to live nonviolent lives.

How do we “Support Our Troops,” when the killing stops? What is behind our silent indifference, and the 272,000 homeless veterans we walk by every day? This film asks Congress and the American people to bare witness to these soldiers and their families, and to consider the human cost of war, above all else.

The Ground Truth is currently seeking finishing funds so it may be released in movie theatres by Spring, 2005. To donate and find out how you can help the rest of America hear our soldiers’ stories, go to www.optruth.org or www.thegroundtruth.com.

[Wright Patman]

1. When you enlist with the military,

you've quite literally made a deal with the devil.

There have been quite a few wars this country has fought, most of them unnecessary, and the heartbreaking stories of the aftermath for the vets is the only common denominator.

What's the definition of insanity? My favorite is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

[GreatAuntK]

2. Post traumatic stress

If the soldiers admit in-country that they've been emotionally affected by combat, they're sent back to the front!

"If a person comes back from Iraq and kills himself one week, one month, or six months after the war, that number is not counted as a combat-related suicide or suicide as a result of serving in war."

The treatment that one received in the military ... "increased the panic tremendously."

"I just believe in my heart that I was lied to by someone..."

"He did something, or he saw something, so that when he came back, he took his own life."

[Selatius]

3. kick!

:kick:

[babylonsister]

4. Kickin' for truth! nt