Indie Film Festival to Indie Rock

Indie Film Festival to Indie Rock

I went to the Human Rights Film Festival today in USF's Presentation Theatre to see Winter In Baghdad, a documentary by Javier Corcuera about his time in that city in 2004. I am fascinated by alternative points of view on the Iraq war, and this film did not disappoint. Corcuera follows several local Iraqi people, including one memorable little boy, a shoe shiner by trade, as they struggle for survival, normality, and peace of mind in what has become the most dangerous city in the world. Corcuera complies commentary from dozens of Iraqi men, women and children on how they view their life today. Many of the children expressed fear and mistrust of the American military machine; one little girl described a bad dream where she was gunned down by a US Army helicopter. The young shoe shiner describes how US soldiers are afraid of the wooden box he carries, which houses his supplies, because they think he has a bomb.

Watching footage of US soldiers armed to the teeth, and on guard, as they patrol the streets of Baghdad in pairs conjures up my own childhood memories from the movie Star Wars, when the imperial forces, in their white plastic body suits, patrol the desert space port looking for two missing robots. Star Wars simplifies this situation to bad and good, with the white "storm troopers" as bad, and our hero Luke Skywalker and his friends as good. In Baghdad, the situation is more complicated, there are no absolute forms of bad and good, the US soldiers are not bad, and neither is the US Army, while the Iraqi people are by majority, innocent bystanders. Yet despite this realization, I still feel a sense of fear brought on by the all powerful, overshadowing nature of these US foot patrols, in much the same way I felt about the storm troopers in Star Wars as a child. This feeling was further developed when the film showed what the US bombing of the city looked like from the perspective of an Iraqi at street level. There are flashed of light, roaring explosions, and the scream of jet engines in the dark sky. From street level, the bombing of Baghdad feels like a rain of terror willed by God. If my city were Baghdad, I would no doubt distrust and fear the owner of those bombs, and those troops.

I wish there were a way for us to explain to the people of Iraq that all we want is for them to have a peaceful country, with a just, democratic government, free of radical fundamentalists and terrorists.

Are current US operations in Iraq part of the problem? YES! Is leaving the solution? NO! Even if we have no other task than to keep the peace, we must stay in Iraq, leaving would lead to even greater destabilization, chaos, violence, and death.

Some people in Iraq hate America, and some hate other factions of Islam, and some people from both groups are willing to kill to release this hatred. Staying in Iraq will most certainly cost more American lives, and more taxpayer dollars. Leaving will cost US credibility abroad, and future global security.

Everyone loves to wash their hands of the fault and responsibility for this war. I stood shoulder to shoulder with thousands of my fellow Americans on the frigged streets of New York City on February 15th 2003 for the "No Blood for Oil" protest against an invasion of Iraq. I was 17 years old, I'd travelled more than 6 hours to get there. I knew that Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein had no connection, this was an understanding I shared with painfully few of my fellow citizens. Later, when President Bush found the justification he needed: whispers of hidden weapons of mass destruction, and speculation of African uranium, I changed my vote. I was ok with the war, a quick, find the bombs, restore democracy, turn around and come home kind of war. The majority of Americans were on my side.

Today, the bombs never existed, and we're stuck in a bloody, "no light at the end of the tunnel" war. Most Americans disapprove of the President, most disapprove of the war. What happened to all the yellow "support our troops" bumper stickers? The American people flip flop like a teeter totter, and the bottom line is that its not fair to the people of Iraq. We can't bomb their country, kill their leader, brew up a storm and then leave because it gets messy.

The indie rock part of this post's title refers to the concert I went to after the film. It was The White T's at Slims.