hupcollective

from the Nation magazine comes this incredible, and incredibly disturbing article. they spent months interviewing soldiers about their time in iraq.

Over the past several months The Nation has interviewed fifty combat veterans of the Iraq War from around the United States in an effort to investigate the effects of the four-year-old occupation on average Iraqi civilians. These combat veterans, some of whom bear deep emotional and physical scars, and many of whom have come to oppose the occupation, gave vivid, on-the-record accounts. They described a brutal side of the war rarely seen on television screens or chronicled in newspaper accounts.

Their stories, recorded and typed into thousands of pages of transcripts, reveal disturbing patterns of behavior by American troops in Iraq. Dozens of those interviewed witnessed Iraqi civilians, including children, dying from American firepower. Some participated in such killings; others treated or investigated civilian casualties after the fact. Many also heard such stories, in detail, from members of their unit. The soldiers, sailors and marines emphasized that not all troops took part in indiscriminate killings. Many said that these acts were perpetrated by a minority. But they nevertheless described such acts as common and said they often go unreported--and almost always go unpunished.

the entire article is too long to post here, but you can find it at

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070730/hedges

Tuesday, July 24th 8pm Sharp

Showing the film "Sir! No Sir!"

to benefit SWAN (Servicewomen's Action Network)

This event is part of an ongoing monthly series showcasing radical films
to benefit local organizing. Films shown on the patio at El Rio. Event is
free but donations gladly accepted. 21 and over. Space is wheelchair
accessible but bathrooms are not.

For more information please contact us at radfilms@lycos.com

See you there!


"Sir! No Sir"

In the 1960's an anti-war movement emerged that altered the course of
history. This movement didn't take place on college campuses, but in
barracks and on aircraft carriers. It flourished in army stockades, navy
brigs and in the dingy towns that surround military bases. It penetrated
elite military colleges like West Point. And it spread throughout the
battlefields of Vietnam. It was a movement no one expected, least of all
those in it. Hundreds went to prison and thousands into exile. And by 1971
it had, in the words of one colonel, infested the entire armed services.
Yet today few people know about the GI movement against the war in
Vietnam.

SIR! NO SIR! aims to change all that. The film does four things: 1) Brings
to life the history of the GI movement through the stories of those who
were part of it; 2) Reveals the explosion of defiance that the movement
gave birth to with never-before-seen archival material; 3) Explores the
profound impact that movement had on the military and the war itself; and
4) Tells the story of how and why the GI Movement has been replaced with
the myth of the spat-upon veteran.