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Stop Loss

Doublethink: "The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. ... To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies-all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth." – George Orwell, 1984. 

"If you control the language, you control the debate" - Katha Pollitt

Culture of life, Clear Skies Initiative, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Help America Vote Act, Healthy Forests Act, War on Terror, family values, civilian contractors, insurgents, death tax; the far right has hijacked the English language so massively that they should be wearing turbans, shaving their body hair, and carrying box-cutters and plastic knives.  Yet the one Big Brother slogan that really gets under my skin like something you can catch from a toilet seat is “Support The Troops.”  What it really means is if you don’t support the ill-conceived war run by a White House whose decisions resemble a short bus reunion that your children’s children will be paying for, if you don’t want your child or your neighbor’s child coming home in a coffin, their blood spilled for no good reason, then you do not support the troops.  If you are against the war, you’re against the troops.  What it really is is a cowardly way of trying to justify a policy decision by hiding behind the backs of the brave men and women who are serving their country.  All the former hippies are now driving hybrids, recycling, living in the suburbs, and listening to NPR. This is not the 1960s.  There is no more free love and flower power.  The only acid being dropped is citric, and that is because their doctor said they need a little more vitamin C in their diet.  Conservatives need to grow up and stop lying. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is against the troops. Soldiers are not being called “baby killers” and spat on. There is no “Baghdad Jane.”  Instead, I have witnessed acts of generosity towards those in uniform by both liberals and conservatives that would make you weep.  Republican, Democrat, it does not matter; everyone understands the difference between the policy and those who are forced to carry it out. 

    The reason I hate the phrase is simple.  Democrats melt like a green plastic army man in an Easy-Bake Oven when confronted with that slogan.  Instead, they should be asking those on the right why they are not doing more to support the soldiers.  Not only does George Bush not bother to attend one of these heroes’ funerals, but his administration has also cut their combat pay and is still not supplying them with the armor they need.  Yet, more importantly, if we are really going to support the troops, we need to recognize that wars do not end when the last bullet is fired.  It continues on in the broken bodies and minds of those who participated.

            Not only are some of our troops coming home missing arms and legs and others returning in boxes, but many are bearing psychological scars that will never heal.  Up to one in ten soldiers are being evacuated from the battlefield in the War On Terror to the biggest military hospital in Europe with mental problems.  The Army itself admits that between 8 and 10 percent of soldiers are suffering from "psychiatric or behavioral health issues."  Already Iraqi war vets are joining the homeless on our city streets. (One-fourth of all the homeless are veterans, of which almost half served during the Vietnam era.)  Alcoholism and drug abuse is also higher than in the civilian population. Divorces in the military and National Guard have skyrocketed to an all-time high, particularly among the officer corps.  After lengthy and mutable deployments, servicemen not only battle the strains of warfare and financial burdens of being away, but they and their spouses are also suffering problems readjusting to home life. 

            One of the dirtiest things we have done to the persons who have chosen to do their duty is the current stop loss policy. Passed by Congress after the Vietnam War, in light of an increasingly technological military, in the case of a future war, it was argued that certain individuals with specific skills would be needed on a short-term basis until replacements could be trained.  So, on the back of every military contract was printed, “In the event of war, my enlistment in the Armed Forces continues until six (6) months after the war ends, unless my enlistment is ended sooner by the President of the United States." Let me repeat, it was a short term solution for conflicts like the Gulf War in 1990, but now it is being used extensively by our current President as a way of avoiding a draft.  In this war that will seemingly last forever, men and women who have fulfilled their military service, who have gotten on with their lives, are being called back.  Many have refused to go, several have been court-martialed, and a few have filed lawsuits. 

            It is this program forms the basis of Stop Loss, one of an avalanche of Iraq War movies coming out in the next couple of years.  While this film is more famous for being the movie set on which the Ryan Phillippe/Reese Witherspoon marriage ended due to a rumored affair, it is the return to the director’s chair of the extremely talented Kimberly Peirce who made the incredible Boys Don’t Cry.  It has been almost nine years since her directorial debut on her one and only film until now.  To put this into perspective, during this time, Hillary Swank, the star of her film, has won an Oscar, gotten married, become a has been, won another Oscar, gotten divorced, and is well on her way to being a has been again before Peirce got a second chance behind the camera.  The reason someone like Peirce is important is that not only did she grow up in poverty, spending her childhood in a Florida trailer park, but she brings the female perspective to any story she decides to make.  If any story needs a female insight, it is the emotional toll that our current stop loss policy has on people and families.

            In Stop Loss, Ryan Phillippe plays Texas native Brandon King, a soldier who has done his duty, believed he has fulfilled his contract, and now discovers that the government is requiring him to go back into a combat zone.  Brandon does not want to return to Iraq.  What is he to do?  Will he desert?  If he does, how will his family, friends, and more importantly, the government react to his actions? I am trying to give away as little as possible about this film because I want people to go to it.  Why?  Many on the far right will claim it is unpatriotic.  What is unpatriotic is the lack of concern that our current decision makers and talking heads give to the human beings who are putting their lives and families on the line to fulfill decisions that middle-aged men have made. Rush Limbaugh needs to start supporting the troops.  So does President Bush, Sean Hannity, and thousands of others on the right.

            The thing that I hate most about the war is that it was sold to the American people like a used car out of one of those fly-by-night car dealerships.  It was supposed to be a painless and cheap war. The rich were going to be able to keep their tax cuts because it was only going to cost us at most maybe a billon dollars.   All that Iraqi oil money was going to pay for everything.  The rich keep their wealth, the poor spilled their blood, and your grandchildren’s grandchildren will probably still be paying the bill for this war. “Our soldiers will only have to be there six months, maybe a year at most.”   Our leaders have told us that they have turned the corner so often the last few years that we are doing doughnuts.  The reality is Bush will hand this conflict off to his successor, whether it be Republican or Democrat, who will play Nixon to W’s Johnson. A boy or two a day will be sent home in coffins, a few more fallen angels, until we finally declare “victory,” push a few helicopters into the water, and leave.  Let’s stop before there are any more stop losses.

Verdict: A Must See