7/18/08

Today's Knowledge: Stop-Loss and the Iraq War

Just in case you didn't know, the Iraq War is a train wreck. There's all sorts of facts, figures and stories that back this up, but to me the people getting hurt the most (tied only with Iraqi civilians) are our brave military men and women that are fighting this losing battle.

I just learned this new term: stop-loss. Stop-loss is essential when the military tells soldiers that even though they have fulfilled their voluntary duty, they have to go back and serve extra time. I was catching up on my podcasts and learned about all this stuff on Democracynow.org. You can view or listen to (or read the transcript) of the whole show and lots of other stuff there. The story is call: Stop-Loss: A Look at the US Military Policy that Creates a “Backdoor Draft” to Force Soldiers to Continue.

There's a couple different things that you should check out regarding this issue. First, check out Casey J. Porter's YouTube channel. He was stop-lossed three weeks before he was getting out. Now he's in Iraq filming the thoughts and lives of soldiers. You can hear the truth from the soldiers on the ground at his channel: http://www.youtube.com/CaseyJPorter. Very important stuff. Very important work.

Another soldier, Colby Buzzell, was also recently stop-lossed. He is the author of the blog My War: Killing Time in Iraq and he also wrote a book by the same title. He wanted to use his G.I. Bill to get into college and start his life outside of the military. Instead, he's getting shipped back to that US-made mess.

Finally, there's a movie that came out on DVD called Stop-Loss. It was an MTV production, so I think initially I ignored it for that reason, but I'm about to go check it out. I caught a clip of it on Democracy Now and definitely think it's going to be good.

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