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This past Sunday, our nation celebrated Veterans Day, a time to look back and remember those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and honor those who are serving today.
In the past, every single American would have observed this important holiday in some way - whether it was a moment of silence, a parade or a simple flag on a person's lapel. But today, it seems that our country has changed.
In today's world, people politely acknowledge the holiday and go on about their business. Certainly most people still appreciate the service that these men and women have given to us, but the differences between now and then are stark.
This Friday, Mark Cuban's Magnolia Pictures will debut a film called "Redacted." Directed by the controversial Brian De Palma, the picture is supposedly a "fictional documentary" that it is loosely based on the rape of a young Iraqi girl.
De Palma said the film is meant to show the horrors that U.S. troops are committing in Iraq and end our involvement there.
Unfortunately, people such as Cuban and De Palma do not appreciate or understand the importance of recognizing the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform have taken on. Instead, they would rather focus on a small minority of instances in order to advance a disgusting political agenda. And even more outrageously, they chose the week of Veterans Day to release their film.
Most likely, the majority of Americans will realize just how horrible and deplorable this move by Cuban and De Palma is and will reject the film. However, there are more people today who do not and will never appreciate what our military accomplishes for us.
Because of them, Mark Cuban had the opportunity to become a successful multi-millionaire. Because of our troops, Brian De Palma has the freedom to trash the very people who protect his rights and his safety.
Regrettably, the past is long gone, and people now have much less of an appreciation for what the young men and women of our military do for us. Back then, movies such as "Redacted" would not be tolerated in mainstream society. Today, it will most certainly be rejected, but the absolute unforgivable nature of the film will remain.
De Palma himself has said, "the movie is an attempt to bring the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people." He goes on to state that "the pictures are what will stop the war. One only hopes that these images will get the public incensed enough to motivate their congressmen to vote against this war." Without a doubt, De Palma believes that creating these fictional images of U.S. troops committing atrocities against Iraqi civilians will help to advance his political agenda.
Unfortunately, the week of Veterans Day is not the appropriate time to dump this horrific film on the American people. In fact, there is no proper time to do so. Hopefully, American citizens will reject this loud and clear and make it known to Mark Cuban and Brian De Palma that advancing their distasteful political agenda is unacceptable.
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Well written. This movie will unfortunately be used as a propaganda piece by our enemies in the middle east and elsewhere and will most likely incite further violence. Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" was used in the same way but this movie is even worse. Some people hate the USA and hate the military; that is a sad fact we will have to deal with.
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Once upon a time we in America would celebrate our heroes. Three men have been awarded the Medal of Honor since 9/11. The New York Times failed to mention the two from Iraq AT ALL anywhere in the newspaper. LT Michael Murphy, the Navy SEAL whose family just received his posthumous award, was honored for his actions in Afghanistan. Whether the Times carried an article on his exploits - in the B section of the paper - because he was a native of New York or because he was killed in the (relatively) "good war" in Afghanistan I cannot say. Regardless, it should have been front page news. Too bad a movie will probably never be made about it. Note to Hollywood financiers: Movies which show American soldiers as the good guys make a hell of a lot more money than those which show them as villains.
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OK, fair enough but honestly Hollywood is just too easy to pick on it's like shooting Liberals in a barrel. The reality is that society at-large is disconnected to the sacrifice of our men & women in uniform. Once upon a time, you couldn't through a rock in an office without hitting someone who had served in the military. Now, I work in an office of 260 folks of which me and 4 others served in the military. Further, what parent would adise their teenage child to skip college for a military experience? That number is mighty small my friends and if the recruiting outlook holds true that number will be even smaller. Perhaps the one event on Veteran's Day that was evidence of our society's apathy towards military service, was the fact that no one was upset that President Bush failed to attend the wreath laying ceremony at Arlington. Apparently, lack of respect for the military is running rampant in DC, Crawford Texas and Hollywood.
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Dan hasn't seen the film but he obviously read an interview whereby Mr. De Palma explained his intent, i.e. to convince the American people that American soldiers are monsters in the hopes that the war in Iraq will end. The point, John, is not whether American troops have committed atrocities in Iraq. They have. Troops commit atrocities in every war. Gee whiz, now that I think about it, war itself is pretty atrocious. The point is that such conduct is an exception by far. Why should all soldiers be lumped together as war criminals because of the crimes of a few? I imagine you probably didn't know that today four Special Forces soldiers were awarded Silver Stars for their heroism in a battle this past January in Najaf, Iraq in which they helped an Iraqi police unit that came under attack from a suicide cult. According to the Army Times, they "also risked their lives when they went to the aid of two American Apache attack helicopter pilots who died when their aircraft was shot down by the enemy." This type of behavior is more the norm than the rape and murder of a teenage girl. Because some American civilian commit rape and murder, should we conclude that all Americans commit these acts?
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I haven't seen the film, no. But none of us have, because it is set to be released on a limited basis today and then in theaters on Friday. It just makes no sense to me how people can defend this movie when there are so many more stories of out troops' heroism. They certainly have the right to produce the film, but it will also most definitely be rejected by the American people.
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Just saw the film on HDNET. Very graphic. However the events portrayed in the movie are real. It is not a fictional story. There are always bad eggs among a group and this movie tells the story of these bag eggs, and how/why they decided on their course of actions. It attempts to show the pressures and conflicts the troops are faced with constantly, and how they react to those conflicts. I was shocked to read such a column in the CT, mostly because the author has not seen the movie yet. How can you make such strong statements when you have not even viewed the material you are supposedly so offended by? This makes you no better than Bill OReily. Sorry Dan, but I am an American and I did not reject this movie. Please do not pretend to speak for all of us.
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