'Redacted'
"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always evil and never good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children."
- Jimmy Carter.
i am back once again from yet another blogging hiatus, and i think this post is long overdue.
i just finished watching an indy film titled 'Redacted'. it's a fictional story that revolves around actual events. if you don't follow, stop reading. it is about a small unit of marines serving in iraq, one of which is creating a video war journal to use to get in to film school when he gets home.
spoiler alert! - he dies.
and he dies because this fictional story, and fictional group of soldiers revolves around the rape and murder of a 15 year old girl, along with her mother, grandfather, and baby sister (that's the true part). now, i haven't posted much about the war here (ha, like i've really posted much about anything here lately), and i can't say that this is what i had imagined to be my latest subject. i will post regardess, though, because it's better than staring at the wall.
it is not the movie that bothers me most. it's not the smaller stories intertwined there. what hit me was the pictures; the realism in the filming, the real pictures from the war in the slideshow before the credits.
now, don't get me wrong, i do support our troops. i wish for the safe return of each and every one. i understand their job is difficult and mentally draining. i know many of the ones who came back and told me of the things they saw. in addition, i have no interest in, how do the neocons put it(?), aiding the ememy? yeah i think i got that right. but i do have support for the innocent lives that are being taken, and taken advantage of, because some 19 year old with a big gun has a thought that he/she can do whatever he/she wants based on the patch on their sleeve. i would like to know how a toddler, not much older than my own children, must be slaughtered in front of the parents' bodies? i mean, my kids are really smart, but there is no way they could fathom why something as gruesome as what these pictures and stories reveal would happen. i don't understand seeing a woman mourning her daughter rendered lifeless because she 'looked suspicious'.
it makes me question: what ever happened to the 'rules of engagement'? didn't these principles talk about things like not shooting until shot at yourself? weren't they about helping to make sure the life you are taking is actually a threat before you decide to blow their brains out? maybe i'm wrong. maybe things have changed in the way our military practices its duties. but if i am wrong, and this kind of savagery is presently acceptable by our leaders, i am left with nothing but to be ashamed that we live in a place in which people can get away with terrible things under executive order. again, i support our troops. the vast majority of them are simply following orders rather than be locked up in military prison, or killed accidentally. what i am against are the ones who know that these acts have gone on, and are still going on; yet, they do nothing. i blame our leaders. on both sides of the aisle who have done nothing for a bit of political gain.
but most of all, i blame us. we, who allowed this so called administration to be reelected so that they may continue to desecrate eveything that makes this country great. we, who have not made our voices heard. we, who stare blankly at our television and hear reports of nothing but death. we, who have the power to stand up to make a change. i can only hope that one day we will finally be great once more. we have the potential, and the means. now, we need the minds.
- Jimmy Carter.
i am back once again from yet another blogging hiatus, and i think this post is long overdue.
i just finished watching an indy film titled 'Redacted'. it's a fictional story that revolves around actual events. if you don't follow, stop reading. it is about a small unit of marines serving in iraq, one of which is creating a video war journal to use to get in to film school when he gets home.
spoiler alert! - he dies.
and he dies because this fictional story, and fictional group of soldiers revolves around the rape and murder of a 15 year old girl, along with her mother, grandfather, and baby sister (that's the true part). now, i haven't posted much about the war here (ha, like i've really posted much about anything here lately), and i can't say that this is what i had imagined to be my latest subject. i will post regardess, though, because it's better than staring at the wall.
it is not the movie that bothers me most. it's not the smaller stories intertwined there. what hit me was the pictures; the realism in the filming, the real pictures from the war in the slideshow before the credits.
now, don't get me wrong, i do support our troops. i wish for the safe return of each and every one. i understand their job is difficult and mentally draining. i know many of the ones who came back and told me of the things they saw. in addition, i have no interest in, how do the neocons put it(?), aiding the ememy? yeah i think i got that right. but i do have support for the innocent lives that are being taken, and taken advantage of, because some 19 year old with a big gun has a thought that he/she can do whatever he/she wants based on the patch on their sleeve. i would like to know how a toddler, not much older than my own children, must be slaughtered in front of the parents' bodies? i mean, my kids are really smart, but there is no way they could fathom why something as gruesome as what these pictures and stories reveal would happen. i don't understand seeing a woman mourning her daughter rendered lifeless because she 'looked suspicious'.
it makes me question: what ever happened to the 'rules of engagement'? didn't these principles talk about things like not shooting until shot at yourself? weren't they about helping to make sure the life you are taking is actually a threat before you decide to blow their brains out? maybe i'm wrong. maybe things have changed in the way our military practices its duties. but if i am wrong, and this kind of savagery is presently acceptable by our leaders, i am left with nothing but to be ashamed that we live in a place in which people can get away with terrible things under executive order. again, i support our troops. the vast majority of them are simply following orders rather than be locked up in military prison, or killed accidentally. what i am against are the ones who know that these acts have gone on, and are still going on; yet, they do nothing. i blame our leaders. on both sides of the aisle who have done nothing for a bit of political gain.
but most of all, i blame us. we, who allowed this so called administration to be reelected so that they may continue to desecrate eveything that makes this country great. we, who have not made our voices heard. we, who stare blankly at our television and hear reports of nothing but death. we, who have the power to stand up to make a change. i can only hope that one day we will finally be great once more. we have the potential, and the means. now, we need the minds.
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