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=> will they ever trust us again....

will they ever trust us again....
Posted by parhad (Guest) - Sunday, October 24 2004, 3:39:48 (CEST)
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WILL THEY EVER TRUST US AGAIN?
LETTERS FROM THE WAR ZONE

Anyone who has seen Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore's scathing and phenomenally successful anti-Bush documentary, remembers the shattering moment when Lila Lipscomb reads her son's last letter from Iraq, then breaks down in tears. Writing just before he was killed in action, Sgt. Michael Pederson fumes, "[Bush] has us here for nothing whatsoever. I am so furious, mamma ..." In a nakedly political film, the power of a mother's grief and the bitterness of a soldier's words transcend politics.

WILL THEY EVER TRUST US AGAIN? Letters from the War Zone (Simon & Schuster, October 5, 2004, $22.00) is culled from the thousands of supportive emails that Michael Moore received from soldiers and their families after the release of Fahrenheit 9/11. These are the voices of the men, women, and families at the front lines of a war that has claimed the lives of more than 900 U.S. soldiers since Bush declared "Mission Accomplished." Together, the letters form a harrowing portrait of life in the war zone�and a passionate call for change.

Moore writes in his introduction, "What makes their comments unique and so intense is the fact that they are not the words of the Left or the rhetoric of the antiwar movement�they are the war movement. Their observations are filled with such purpose because they are the witnesses to war, the men and women on the ground being asked to do the killing and slowly realizing that their job has little to do with defending the United States of America."

The soldiers portrayed in these letters are typically working class; "I needed the money for college" turns up again and again as an explanation for their service. They serve with honor, but many have had their Iraq service extended long beyond their original enlistment. Most withhold their full names, because they fear reprisals from their superiors. Their letters are by turns poignant and horrific, but the overall tenor is one of frustration and anger, at an administration that has misled them into a war without purpose or end.

In addition to letters from Iraq, WILL THEY EVER TRUST US AGAIN? also features emails from soldiers' loved ones and veterans from previous wars. Their words speak for themselves:

* ON THE JUSTIFICATION FOR WAR: A marine lieutenant recounts how, at the war's start, he told his platoon that they were fighting to root out weapons of mass destruction, which posed a threat to world peace. "My Marines seemed to accept this as a good reason to risk their lives," he writes. "Time and our senior leadership have proven me a liar; we apparently went to war for, as you put it, fictitious reasons. This angers me more than I can possibly express." (p. 57-58)
* ON THE TRIALS OF PEACEKEEPING: Willy, a soldier in Baghdad, writes, "It's hard listening to my platoon sergeant saying, �If you decide you want to kill a civilian that looks threatening, shoot him. I'd rather fill out paperwork than get one of my soldiers killed by some raghead.'" (p. 24) Another soldier laments, "We are here trying to keep the peace when all we have trained for is to destroy." (p. 19)

An anonymous mother writes of her son, "He killed a civilian woman his first week in Iraq and didn't have the stomach to fight after that incident ... They have accused him of cowardice. I think he is simply human. The emotional effects of killing innocent people are another by-product of this needless war." (p. 178)

* ON THE ECONOMICS OF WAR: National Guard infantryman Michael W. writes of underequipped soldiers and overpaid contractors: "[R]oadside bombs nearly destroyed one of our Hummers and riddled my friends with shrapnel, almost killing them. They would not have had a scratch if they had the �Up Armor' kits on them. So where was W. on that one? ... A Blackwater contractor makes $15,000 a month doing the same job as my pals and me. I make about $4,000 a month over here." (p. 21)
* ON THE PROBLEMS FOR THOSE COMING HOME: Many soldiers have lost limbs or eyes, and it is estimated that 16 percent of Iraq veterans show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, or severe anxiety. Annemarie Wicks writes of her brother, Marine Sgt. Boyd W. "Chip" Wicks Jr., who hung himself after returning home. "Surely," she writes, "these soldiers who've committed suicide due to the emotional hell that this war has caused are just as much casualties as those who've died from bombs or gunshot wounds." (p. 207-208)

Ed, a 73-year-old veteran of the Korean War, writes from bitter experience, "Can you imagine what these wounded and harmed young people are going to deal with when they get home�if they do? They will be ignored, shoved aside, and forgotten. If you are rich and connected, you wouldn't be in the service in the first place." (p. 144)

* ON FAHRENHEIT 9/11: A soldier in Baghdad writes, "[T]here have been about a hundred bootleg copies of Fahrenheit sold at my base. It is a big hit, and we are planning on playing it at our MWF [Morale, Welfare, and Recreation]. People's perceptions of this war have done a complete 180 since we got here ... If this is happening elsewhere, it looks as if the overseas military vote that Bush is used to won't be there this time around." (p. 25) Sally Drumm, a 20-year Marine veteran, writes to Moore, "You have told the truth that so badly needed to be told ... I hope you never give up or give in." (p. 131)

By publishing these letters, Michael Moore gives voice to a group largely overlooked by the media's Iraq coverage: the real men and women who are doing the fighting, the dying, and the grieving. WILL THEY EVER TRUST US AGAIN? is fierce, heartbreaking, and true.



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