Tonight I watched the powerful HBO documentary, "Baghdad ER." I didn't see it the first nights it aired. I have a weak stomach. I get queasy around blood and guts.
But tonight I finally saw it. It's the least I could do.
I vowed that since our brave men and women sacrifice their bodies and their lives, I owed them the respect to be their witness. Both to their personal valor and to the valiant who help them survive.
"Baghdad ER" is as powerful and realistic as I thought it would be.
According to Army Colonel Casper P. Jones III, commander of the 86th Combat Support Hospital, the film shows the truth of what goes on in the hospital.... It's an accurate depiction of the medical facility and gives a real-life view... in a combat zone." (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/may2006/20060517_5149.html)
To be expected, the Department of Defense under the tyranny of Donald Rumsfeld, didn't endorse the final airing of the film. I don't know if George Bush and Dick Cheney ever saw it. Or if they felt any remorse when they did.
Probably not.
I do know that American President George W. Bush, American Vice President Richard Cheney, American Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former American Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfewitz, American Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, former Project for a New American Century imperialism advisor Richard Perle, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair SHOULD see it.
More so, they SHOULD feel it. They should feel the pain and suffering they have forced on our troops and on the innocent people of Iraq.
Thank you HBO and Sheila Nevins for airing this film. Thank you Joe Feury and Lee Grant for producing it. Thank you Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill for making it. Thank you to its stars... who play roles that should never be played.
George Bush blacks out your battles. You show what your battles have done.
