Stop Loss

Andrea and i don't go out to the movies very often. Usually it requires the visit of one of my daughters to get us into the theatre. Before Sunday afternoon the last movie I watched on the big screen was "Juno." It had great--albeit highly unrealistic-- dialogue. However, it was good to see teen mothers who get pregnant (a parents worst nightmere short of suicide or fatal car accidents) be responsible and give the child up to a family which really wants to(and is ready to) raise children.

On sunday we saw "Stop Lost" staring Ryan Phillippe (better known as Reese Witherspoons philandering ex-husband). He plays a patriotic young Texan who serves in Iraq in response to the events of 9/11. He and his Texas friends sign up and serve together in Bagdad. You witness an intense alleyway ambush in a Bagdad neighborhood where three of his army comrads get killed and another gets severely burned, blinded, and loses three limbs.
The young guys who survive are relieved to return home to their girlfriends and families. They had done their duty. They had faithfully served their beloved country. They now want to move on. If it were ever that easy.

Ryans character get reinlisted against his will. He gets "stop losted" ---he get automatically re-enlisted because the army is short of trained soldiers. They tell you in the credits that this mandatory re-enlistment has snared over 60,000 soldiers so far. He has no options short of going AWOL. At first he does this only to discover that the only way to avoid prison time is to permanently leave the country. No family reunions. No re-entry; even to attend a fathers funeral. No one in the government will take your case. At first he does go AWOL. He finds people willing to help him leave the country. But ultimately the price is too high. In the end he makes an interesting compromise.

This is a low key anti-war movie about the cost of the war being born by the soliders and their families. The cost is high. The loss of life is not limited to the 4000 who die. Walter Reed Hospital is the post battle destination of thousands more with combat injries. The war just drags on and there are fewer people to willingly fight it. The pro-war forces of patriotism are still pretty strong today. The anti-war movment is weak. By this time (5 years and counting) in Vietnam the college campuses were engulfed in anti-war protests.
There are many Vietnam similiarities. We are told that this is a domino--that if allowed to fall will turn the whole region into a radical chauldron of fanaticism. The movie has a great scene of the heroes coming home to a rally in the small Texas town. "We are fighting the terroist over there so we won't have to fight them here in Texas." We are told that progress is being made and that our troops are the reason. The evidence is that the reduction in violence is because the cities have been racially cleansed and people live in armed camps being preyed upon by criminal gangs. The elected Iraqi government is very weak. Last week they tried to challnege the Mahdi Army--the Spowerful militia of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. After having his forces repelled --actually saved by the US and British forces--he called for a ceasefire.
When will someone challenge the myth of progress.Eugene Robinson in the Post said this latest battle in Basra had us supporting one political figure (Maliki) who was trying to weaken his closest political opponent al-Sadr. Reliable sources have al-Sadr living comfortably in Iran.

I am pretty frustrated by the dearth of moral outrage by the Christian church in America. I ahve yet to preach an anti-war message. I feel gutless but marginalized. I am still reeling from the verbal abuse i took 5 years ago when I questioned the run up to the war. Jesus said to "render to Caesar what is Ceasars and to God what is God's." When it comes to war--Caesars call to arms always trumps calls for peaceful restraint.Why do I get the impression we will still be fighting this things in five more years.
Is everyone asleep about this? Does anyone else feel guilty for not pressing for more answers and some real honesty out of the white House and the Pentegon?

I worry about friends and church members who are serving in Iraq. i worry about other patriotic young men who will enlist and go off to serve their country and come back either dead or forever wounded.

The movie is also about the other costs of the war. the nightmere and the violent outbursts that solider carry with them. You hear of a suicide (something that has a very high incidence rate.