A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
I’ve been sent a number of emails asking for a “soldier’s perspective” on this, but for no specific reason haven’t yet. Personally, I’m against it. I’ll never watch it, rent it, or even illegally download. It’s not even worth that for me. It pisses me off too. I know I’m behind the power curve since my fellow Milbloggers have been talking about this for quite some time. It’s just been a very personal decision to try and ignore.
The makers of an Iraq action movie, Valley Of The Wolves-Iraq, accused of portraying anti-American and anti-Semitic stereotypes insisted Thursday that they were only interested in showing the horror of war. Portraying American soldiers gunning down innocent gunning down Iraqi civilians isn’t showing the horror of war. It’s fictionalizing something that is only going to serve to further anti-Americanism across the world. Perhaps this is the filmakers goal.
Let me try to put something in light here because I feel personally, not generally, offended by this storyline. I was in Iraq for the main effort war that started in March. I went through six straight weeks of being shot at, mortared, shelled by artillery, suicide bombing attempts, and IEDs before we were able to settle down in Baghdad. During the war, we would come under fire from Saddam’s Fedayeen forces frequently. I remember one instance in which an Iraqi soldier was literally resting his AK-47 on the shoulder of an Iraqi civilian and firing at us. His fellow soldiers were firing from a restaurant where other civilians were located. How do you take out such a target? Guess what, we had to shoot civilians. BUT NOT ONE OF US ENJOYED IT. We had tears in our eyes as we pulled those triggers. Some would line up their sights and close their eyes before pulling the trigger. It wasn’t murder, it was self defense. I know that God welcomed those victims into His hands and they understood why they were sacrificed. Those people were the true martyrs.
But, to portray soldiers as gunning down civilians haphazardly and without feelings is insulting. It’s an incorrect portrayal of our efforts in Iraq. I understand what artistic expression is, but these American actors (Billy Zane and Gary Busey) show no tact nor common sense in accepting this role. It has nothing to do with artistic expression. It just goes to show you that Hollywood will sell its soul for a buck. I for one can never watch anything these two gentlemen ever do in the future. If they wanted to do a show about American soldiers killing civilians, they should have shown the anguish that went into the decision to take those lives. We fight for those very people we’re accused of killing. My whole purpose of being a soldier is to fight for those that can’t fight for themselves.
The film’s scriptwriter insists he created this movie without carrying any political messages, yet he was quoted as saying “we are speaking out against the war, the occupation and the human rights violations.”
To answer those asked my opinion, I despise this movie. It’s an abomination and frankly a personal attack. Yup, I feel strongly about it and I’m biased.
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The Sgt's Mom
I’m so glad you addressed this movie. I wrote to Gary Busey, of course my email came back, but I’ve written other letters saying the same thing I wrote to Busey. I use to love his movies and I really thought he was a great actor, but I will never spend another penny on anything he is in, or watch it on the TV. I wrote that I thought he might as well shoot the soldiers himself. He totally makes me sick now. He must have really been hard up for the money..
Donna
Thanks CJ for the review or this movie. I hadn’t heard about it but I will know not to watch it now. I can’t believe the nerve of some people to produce a movie like that and to portray our soldiers in such a bad light.
War is not pretty but those guys should know that our soldiers wouldn’t set out to kill civilians unless their lives were in jeopardy.
Beth* A.
CJ, it cannot be said often enough: thank you. Thank you for your selfless service to our country. I cannot know, will never experience firsthand what you went through, but I can, do, and always will appreciate what a heavy price you paid personally for protecting your men and us all here at home. Measuring such a gift…. it’s just not possible. Yet it is a gift offered up by all our troops. God bless them.
_________
It can’t be a good feeling, to have sold out your country. To have sold out the countless men and women of courage who’ve protected you from the wolf that you may never even have seen or be made aware of, thanks to their diligence. I imagine it to be a corrosive, insidious loss of self-respect, combined with a painful knowledge that there are some things that only God would have the superior grace to forgive you for; not those you figuratively spat upon, and certainly, if you have an ounce of moral fiber, NOT your own self. I would not want to be in those actors’ shoes if someone offered me every dollar they both ever made, times 10, on a silver platter. Some things money just can’t buy (back).
On a positive note; I don’t believe there’s the slightest chance that being in their situation is ever an feeling YOU will experience firsthand, CJ. That mirror you looked in on your birthday might show a man with a few less hairs, a coupla new lines, but YOU can look into that man’s eyes with pride. EVERY SINGLE DAY.
God bless you.
wordsmith
Nice comment Beth.
I posted on this movie at Flopping Aces last month, and there are over 80 comments, of mostly juvenile nonsense, with Curt and I entertaining some Turkish kids in the UK and elsewhere. They must have posted it on a Jihadist message board or something.
http://www.floppingaces.net/?p=1303
Nice to finally hear your thoughts on the matter.
Old Ranter
Busey used to be a good actor, that is befor ehe went insane. His tv antics and now this only leads me to believe it too.
Interesting you wrote this, I had just read a review at
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493264/ about it and said it was anti-American and anti-Turkey.
Busey needs to go back to basics.
Ranter
Soldiers Angel CJ
Good to know about the movie–now I’ll never waste my time on it. But I really, really want to thank you for sharing your experience in this post. More people need to read this!!!! It really touched my heart. You do us proud, Sir!! God Bless you beyond measure for all you’ve given/still give.
Warthog555
Hiding behind civilians, the evil f****** bastards. That’s a favorite trick of the palestinians and the liberal media call us indiscriminate killers. They have no clue or they are on the side of our enemies.
Curt
Agree wholeheartedly with your post CJ. As Word said, he posted on my blog about it at the link he gives and we have over 100 comments so far from some effed up turkish kids who have been fed the party line. We have actually had a great time poking them. It is enlightening to see their comments tho, the propaganda they are fed must be a hoot.
Anonymous
THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM FATE… we shall all together see the future of this world… survival is not important…
let HONOR, GLORY and FAITH flow in our veins and be with us eternally
magnificant TURK!!
Kursad
Hi sir and all the others. I am writing from Turkey and I am a student in a university in Anlara
Let me point out that I havent watched the film yet and probably not watch it in near future.However I can state that the main portrayal of the film may be disturbing for Americans.
But there are something to say more about this case. After all this is a movie and can not change the realities neither in positive x direction nor in negative x direction.
Having read the comments I thought that Americans and us dont live on the same planet.The insidences occurring in Iraq that we saw everyday on TV reflect not a very good picture about US or her soldiers.You say our soldiers are such and such…but what we hear about your soldiers are as follows;
the humilitation of the prisoners by Amerivan soldiers in Abu-Gharib ..
an American soldier pointing his gun on an eighty years old woman…
The atrocities exerted on prisoners in Guantanomo…
Dont you need to make an auto-critisism?
I would like to hear your answer as soon as possible.
boi v chechne
American soldiers are bad guys and so that they are paying the bill as dying over iraqi mines.The movie should be showing the examples what really happened in iraq .you americans why dont you wanna believe that whole world hates you,go away !nobody likes you.
ex-gi
I bet that the movie will not be released in theaters in the US nor will it come out on DVD. It’s probably crap, but , hey, let’s see it before putting it down. Free speech? Maybe.
Nothing71
change it! it was not an iraq action movie it was turkish.
Simon Boulanger
You don’t have to watch the movie to see the US state terrorism, you just need to live in the UK and watch the TV daily. Lately I’ve watched channel4 where Iraqis civilians were murdered in cold blood in Iraq mosque. I don’t know if you watched the Italian RAI documentary (very disturbing where the us soldiers admitted killing women, old people and children with order from their superiors) and one of the action where a coward us soldier pulled the trigger on the head of defenceless Iraq civilian.
Bruce
Give me a fucking break! Because you felt sorry you guys were shooting civilians it makes you guys innocent? You lost all claims of innocence when you joined your country’s millitary forces to illegally invade another nation and you expect people (weather it’s Saddam’s reminant goons or newly found resistance fighters) to take it lying down?
I like this movie, finally looking at the whole situation from a all new perspective! God knows America has made enough sensationalised, factionalised movies potraying the evil of other countries. Perhapes it’s about time someone else’s view of America’s involvement in this sordid affair’s been showed!
I am not an Arab by the way.