Protest Iraq War

I don’t know if it was worth doing or not. I didn’t see much reference to the protest in the media, but who knows? This could be the start of a bigger antiwar movement.

Last night I went to the local movie theater to see “Winter Soldier,” a documentary about the Winter Soldier Investigation. After the film, Kenneth Campbell, a political science professor, vietnam vet, and VVAW organizer (who appears in the film) spoke. We did learn the history of the war in high school and touched on some atrocities, but this film went into more disturbing detail and gave you a disturbing personal perspective.

There were a couple protestors outside, and one older man in uniform in front of us who was typing on his laptop during the movie and would occasionally rebuff points in the movie out loud. During the Q&A he got very emotional describing his experiences in the Korean war and accused the professor of treason and later asked him to dinner (he was refused).

It must have taken a lot of courage for those soldiers to face up, describe what they saw and did, and defend themselves against personal attacks.

Someone asked Dr. Campbell about the current war, and he said that he thought the military had improved in some ways, but he also saw some of the same attitudes happening in some cases (Abu Ghraib).

Apparently my mom’s neighbor (who is jewish) dissed on the DC protest because she says the groups involved are radically anti-israel.

Let’s keep the focus where it belongs. The war in Iraq.

Specifically, in DC on Sept. 24th.