5-24-05, 9:26am

In the summer of 2003, 400 US deaths after President Bush declared victory in Iraq, a group of veterans in Southern California and their friends began to build a memorial to those who died in the war. They made a cross, a Star of David, and other symbols for other faiths for each solider who had been killed, painted them white and fixed them in the ground. It is a memorial resembling the Arlington National Cemetery. As the weeks and months passed, the memorial had grown to over 1,600. Arlington West is the name of a hour-long film that records some of the thoughts and emotions expressed by people who happened to visit the memorial one sunny day on a beach near Santa Barbara, California.

Dozens of interviews with current soldiers, veterans, youth, military families, and other community members document in vivid detail and brutal honesty a country torn apart by war, families wracked with loss, soldiers frustrated by pain and guilt, and people in the community confused and angered by apparent lies about the motives for war.

Many of the film’s interviewees are articulate about the ideological reasons for their support or opposition to war. Others, in contrast, are less fluent in political speech, but their gut-level emotions and the rawness of their pain seems as convincing as their more politically saavy counterparts.

Of enormous interest, is the resounding demand by veterans of the war, current soldiers, families of those who have died or have been injured, and others to know what the war is about. Some offer their own opinions: oil, politics, money, profits. Others honestly believe that freedom and liberation are the real motives. The film captures a diverse array of voices, but the sheer magnitude of loss and grief highlights the lack of a justifiable reason for Bush to lead the country to this war. Some interviewees talk eloquently of the harm that comes to those who serve. Not only death, but injury, disease, permanent disability, combined with an overburdened, sometimes uncaring Veteran’s Administration contribute to enormous personal and social problems for returning veterans. Psychological trauma, suicide, violent behavior, survivor’s guilt, mental illness, drugs and alcohol, difficulties with personal relationships and more are ills faced by vets who return without physical scars.

One interviewee explained his motivation for assisting with the memorial project: they are part of our military, he said as he carved a sand sculpture of a wounded soldier being carried to safety by a comrade, “we are stewards of them.” Another volunteer said of men and women who’ve pledged to defend their country, “the only thing we owe them in return is a promise that their lives won’t be wasted.” He added that he thought that in this war many lives have been wasted.

One woman who lost her son in Iraq could not offer deep political insight into her opposition to the war except that it hurts too much to lose someone you love. “I just want them all to come home,” she cried, “There’s been too much killing.”

This brief film is a heart-felt tribute to the sacrifice, loss, grief, and the victims of a foreign policy based not on a love for humanity or democracy but on greed, the struggle for power and global domination, for capitalism and natural resources. Arlington West is a memorial for men and women who thought they were doing the right thing, but were terribly deceived. If that doesn’t convince you that war in Iraq isn’t something we should be involved in, see this film. Those are our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, our sons and daughters dying, being maimed and destroyed mentally. Bring the troops home. Contact your congressional representative today.

For more information, see: Veterans for Peace or .



--Contact Clara West at pa-letters@politicalaffairs.net.