Redact O'Reilly

[babylonsister]

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/11/24/redact_o_reilly

Redact O'Reilly
Mary Shaw

November 16 saw the limited release of Brian DePalma's new film, Redacted. Right-wing gasbag Bill O'Reilly has been attacking this film, and calling for a boycott, so I knew I had to see it. Fortunately it's showing in Philly, so I planned my weekend around a matinee screening.

snip//

It's a study of the toll that war can take on the minds of the soldiers. When you're not sure who you can trust, you eventually decide that it's safest to trust nobody. Not only do the lines get blurred between which Iraqis you can trust or not, you also start to distrust your fellow soldiers. And it gets worse when you start drinking.

It's also a study of how the war gets filtered through the media, and how, as a result, our ideas and beliefs are controlled as well. You and I cannot be in Iraq. So, when it comes to war, the media tells us what we should know and what we should think.

And therein lies the true irony of O'Reilly's attacks on the film and its makers. Keep quiet about the atrocities of war, and America will continue to go shopping. If you recognize that war is hell, you are on the side of al-Qaeda. Go figure.

Every American should see this film, including every member of the Bush administration. Because it's not so much about what American troops are doing to the Iraqis, but rather what Bush's war is doing to our troops. Their actions are just a consequence of that.

While the soldiers who committed the rape and murder upon which that episode of the movie was based should, and are, being punished, they're not just a few bad apples. They're the fruit of a poisonous tree. And Bill O'Reilly is the snake dangling from a low-hanging branch and tempting his followers with the poisonous fruit of that tree.

[AlertLurker]

1. Stranger than Fiction:

Magnolia (DePalma's production company) then bought advertisement time for "Redacted" from Fox to run during O'Reilly's show.

They are such hypocrites and whores!

Everyone in America that goes to see the movie should mail him the ticket stubs!

[rasputin1952]

2. When there is no clear goal, war takes an even more sinister role

upon the psyche's of those who fight it.

In previous wars, the Revolution, The Civil War, WWI, WWII; there were goals, sometimes appearing unattainable, but the goal was there.

WWII stands out in many ways. We were attacked by the Japanese, the nation knew what was happening in Europe, and even though many Americans didn't think we should get involved in the European aspect of the war...the bottom line was, there really weren't many options. Hitler made it easier by declaring war on us and allying with the Japanese, so things were a bit more cut and dried.

As the war progressed, more of the horrors came out, and even when Americans began to tire of the whole thing, resolve became the prime motivator. We felt we had to win, the evil that was ripping away at the world was impossible to ignore. The goal was to win, take down the evil, put it back into a box.

Korea and VN were a little different...Korea began with a goal, but that goal was compromise. A war weary world, and the very real threat of nuclear war took things to a different level. In VN, the goal was to survive, just as it is in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is where the troops face a very real problem.

When the mission is survival, that is what it devolves into. No one wants to be a casualty, especially needlessly. Soldiers will fight when they know what they are fighting for, but no one is going to risk their lives, or the lives of those they serve with on some whim.

I am willing to bet that the "success" of the "Surge", is nothing more than a let up by those that will continue this jihad for the next millennium. The people of the Middle East are not stupid. If they make it look like they are beaten back or defeated, all they have to do is wait, w/an occasional IED or skirmish to make things "look good". The people over there know how to hold a grudge, they've held one against Europe for the Crusades for hundreds of years. Our intervention did not erase that memory, just enhanced the notion that non-Muslims can't be trusted.

The people that got us into this never did their homework, they thought they'd be seen as liberators, but we are seen as thieves and murderers.

So our men and women don't have a realistic goal...they have no idea when they can come home for good...they feel as if they are pawns, and that creates a horrible situation for everyone.

[NI4NI]

3. I think John Murtha would agree with you

a point he was trying to make with his comments about Haditha; something chickenhawks could never understand in a million years, and warmongers couldn't care less about.

[rasputin1952]

4. Murtha is an interesting study...

The RWnuts loved him when he voted w/them for anything military. Now they use him as a punching bag because he has questioned their motives and their methods.

Most intelligent people would have seen that as showing just how much "loyalty" means to them. regardless of what he did for this nation and its veterans, it was all suddenly gone when Murtha was man enough to stand up and ask the hard questions.

As for all of the love they profess for those who have been in battle or have worn one of the uniforms of this nation, they treated Max Cleland as if he were born of satan's loins.

The 101st Keyboard Warriors are always there to try and sell Snake Oil; but exceptionally few of them have ever had to walk patrol, stand guard in the cold rain or having a seemingly endless wait for a letter from home.

They are cowards of the lowest order, just like their Commander Guy....