[Vision2020] Two "Must See" Telecasts About the Iraqi War

[Dan Carscallen]

More to see:

http://tinyurl.com/gmasq

IRAQ CONFIDENTIAL WITH JESSE JAMES
PREMIERE'S ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL SUNDAY MAY 28th @ 9pm & REPEATS @ 1am
MILITARY CHANNEL Network Premiere: Monday, May 29, 9-11 PM 

"Accompanied by a small production crew, Jesse descended onto a secret
location just outside of Baghad to bring a little piece of home to the
mechanics who help protect their fellow soldiers out in the battlefield.
Jesse, armed with a caravan of equipment and parts, rounds up a group of
unknowing heroic builders to restore a damaged Humvee that was hit
during an insurgent attack. The troops of the 181st Transportation
Battalion welcome this diversion from the everyday horrors of war and
embrace the opportunity to showcase their talents. IRAQ CONFIDENTIAL
WITH JESSE JAMES is a glimpse into what everyday life is like for these
soldiers. Jesse gets to put a human face to this war, he experiences
what it's like to be caught in the middle of a mortar attack and he
visits the ER where American doctors help treat our soldiers, as well as
the insurgents."

DC

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Tom Hansen
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2006 5:00 PM
To: Moscow Vision 2020
Subject: [Vision2020] Two "Must See" Telecasts About the Iraqi War


Greetings Visionaires -

There are two telecasts being shown in the near future that I consider
MUST SEE telecasts concerning the Iraqi War.

Thursday (May 25, 2006), 9:00 PM (A&E, Adelphia Channel 33):  "Combat
Diaries: The Marines of Lima Company"

Sunday (May 21, 2006) and throughout June (HBO): "Baghdad ER"

Both shows are unedited and what I would consider to be "wake up calls"
for those who blindly support George Bush's "Stay the Course" tactics.

Articles from the Army Times concerning each of these is posted below.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

A&E to air raw, moving portrait of 'Lucky' Marines

By Rob Colenso Jr.
Times staff writer

You probably remember the stories of "Lucky Lima."

The company from 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, a Reserve outfit out of
Columbus, Ohio, deployed to Iraq in March 2005 with 184 Marines, the
last of nine Marine Corps Reserve infantry battalions to be called up
for war. 

By the end of its seven-month tour, about one in three leathernecks with
the company had been killed or wounded. 

In all, 59 Purple Hearts were awarded to Lima Marines, 23 of them
posthumously. The company's collective losses galvanized the Columbus
community of Brook Park - and the nation as a whole.

You may have heard about the company's role in Operation Spear in
Karabilah, a city near the Syrian border that had become a base of
operations for foreign fighters.

And you probably saw the smoking aftermath of the amphibious assault
vehicle that hit a roadside explosive so massive that the 23-ton vehicle
flipped onto its back and all 11 Lima Company leathernecks inside were
killed.

It's easy to remember the painful things - the images from the nightly
news don't really go away. But you've never seen them through the eyes
of the Marines who fought there.

Until now.

A new A&E Network documentary set to air May 25, "Combat Diary: The
Marines of Lima Company," gives viewers a window into their world,
largely through video and photos shot by the Marines themselves. As Sgt.
Steve Hicks, platoon sergeant for Lima's 3rd Platoon, puts it at the
start of the
documentary: "Everybody had a camera."

And the Marines photographed everything. From pizza-eating contests in
their barracks at Iraq's Haditha Dam to the aftermath of the Aug. 3
explosion that flipped the assault vehicle, the Marines saw - and filmed
- it all. 

"The Marines of Lima Company never intended this footage to be made
public," said Michael Epstein, who directed and produced the film for
Viewfinder Productions. "It's vastly different than footage you see from
embedded reporters - or even footage shot with the intent of later being
folded into a film. This is one company's unfiltered experience of war."

Epstein's spare, unadorned production allows the Marines to tell their
own tales of success, frustration and loss. Follow-up interviews after
the battalion's return from Iraq and interviews with the parents and
spouses of Marines killed in combat help bring richness and depth to the
combat footage.

In one scene, a camera follows Stephanie Derga to a bar in the Columbus
area. Her son, Cpl. Dustin Derga, 24, was killed May 8, 2005, shot in
the back with an armor-piercing round during Operation Matador on the
Iraq-Syria border. The bar is a popular hangout for Lima Company's
Marines - they spend more time with one another than they do with
civilians now that they're back from war - and Derga prefers to spend
time with them as well. 

At the start of the documentary, Lance Cpl. Trevor Smith tells the
viewer, "I don't really talk to people about what happened."

But throughout, it becomes clear that the Marines want to tell their
story, to be remembered as more than "the company that lost so many
Marines." They talk of the relationships they built with Iraqi soldiers,
moving from early skepticism to loose bonds of friendship in the
crucible of combat. 

They cite the improved Iraqi turnout between the two elections that
bracketed their seven-month deployment, noting that the rise in
participation is thanks, at least in part, to their efforts during that
long summer.

"I just want people to remember them for what they did, not because they
died," Smith says as the documentary draws to its close.

"Combat Diary" doesn't explore the details of the battles Lima Company
fought to the same depth that it does the stories of the company's
wounded and fallen. But it does provide a stark, honest and gripping
portrait of idealism tempered by the pain of brothers lost in war.

"Combat Diary: The Marines of Lima Company" airs at 9 p.m. Eastern time
May 25 on the A&E Network.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Know what to expect' from HBO movie, viewers warned

By Kelly Kennedy
Times staff writer

An HBO documentary about an Army hospital in Iraq is so graphic, some
brass concluded, that they warned soldiers to be careful watching it.
Other Army leaders invited to an advance screening stayed away.

Some soldiers and family members associated with "Baghdad ER," however,
told Army Times they found value in the war-zone reality that the
documentary portrays. One mother who watched her son die in the
documentary said the film allowed her to see the people who cared for
him in his very last moments.

The movie, which debuts Sunday, features 62 minutes of gore, anguish and
death as the soldiers of the 86th Combat Support Hospital out of Fort
Campbell, Ky., wade through the wounded of Baghdad in the spring and
summer of 2005. It will air on HBO throughout the month of June. 

"It's very gritty," Army spokesman Paul Boyce said. "It's very
realistic. We want to make sure folks know what to expect. We're not
telling people, 'Don't watch.'"

Boyce, who viewed the May 17 screening of the documentary at the
National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., said it also
shows the heroism of the medical personnel treating those wounded in the
combat zone.

"It profiles their daily performances," Boyce said, "and their
compassion is absolutely inspirational."

Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley said in a May 9 memo that the film "shows the
ravages and anguishes of war" and may cause some who have served in Iraq
to "experience some symptoms of post-traumatic stress, such as
flashbacks or nightmares."

 
Family members who watch it may also have emotional reactions such as
anxiety, said Kiley, who heads the Army Medical Command at Fort Sam
Houston, Texas.

Kiley asked that commanders advise their units of the film's release
date and that they be aware that soldiers may seek comfort or treatment
after viewing it. He also asked commanders to strongly consider
extending the hours of support personnel, such as chaplains and mental
health counselors.

Col. Casper Jones, commander of the 86th, said he thought the film was a
well-done, accurate portrayal of what his soldiers did in Baghdad. For
him, the grueling scenes are only a millisecond of his memories. 

"What you see in this documentary is about 1/25th of the shock value of
what you actually see and visualize," he said. "I certainly didn't see
anything I'd forgotten."

The film shows soldiers helping each other, asking about teammates
involved in an attack, making jokes above their own disintegrated limbs,
and leaning on the hospital staff who saved their lives.

Jones watched it with his troops during an advance screening. 

They weren't shocked or thrown into an "emotional tailspin" after
watching the program, Jones said. And it may help them realize what
they've accomplished and better explain their mission to family members
and friends.

"The American people should be very proud of the medical team that's
right there at the front lines to ensure the soldiers can get back to
their families," he said. "I certainly hope that when my mother, father
and sister see this they'll have an appreciation of what we did over
there."

Sgt. Jeffrey Beltran of Fort Riley, Kan., said he remembered the day HBO
asked him if they could film him soon after a roadside bomb destroyed
his knee Memorial Day weekend 2005.

His face - and his wounds - flash across the screen as he asks a colonel
if he has any beer. Then again as medics tell him his men all survived
after an IED blew his Humvee in half. And again as the medical staff
work to comfort him as they rebuild his knee.

"It showed to every extent what the medical professional has done
helping the wounded soldiers," he said. "It's very emotional and
traumatic to see yourself on TV talking to doctors."

he said the film helped him because he got to see all that happened
around him that he wasn't aware of at the time. "I remembered two
snapshots of what I'd seen in a dream," he said. "I understand now fully
the whole process."

The hardest part to watch, he said, was when a young Marine, Lance Cpl.
Robert Mininger, 21, died. 

Mininger's mother, Paula Zwillinger, watched the film Tuesday with the
86th.

"It's a pain a mother goes through - losing a child to war," she said.
"Seeing it, it brings peace knowing that he wasn't alone. He had another
Marine by his side. He was in good care."

When Mininger died last June, his mother did not know about the HBO
documentary. A director called her five months later.

"Five months down the road, I'm still very much in the grieving
process," she said. "To hear that there's a video that could put me by
my son's bedside - as a parent, you can't walk away from that."

And HBO let her help with the editing process.

"I'm not ready to show 100 percent of the footage," she said. 

It was important to let the world see what the soldiers did for her son,
she said. "As a lay person, you can't understand," she said. "Two
soldiers holding hands on a stretcher and crying together.... There's
nothing that can compare to that."

------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Seeya round town, Moscow.

t hansen-moore
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the
tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.


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