Bad Voodoo's War

I am wary of any Frontline production about the war.

It seems they are exercising a "full-court press" with this, "Bush's War" and some other drivel they've been pushing out lately.

So much for unbiased journalism.

Thanks for the shout out John, and while I understand your and GregS' wariness, I can assure you that Frontline wanted to let the guys tell their story -- through their eyes as they saw it. There was no editorial strong arming going on...this was/is their experience.

Deborah Scranton
Director
BAD VOODOO'S WAR

Check out this vid from youtube and I think you'll be as excited to see it as I am.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtXCH_5A83c

http://thebronzeblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/watch-bad-voodoos-war-on-april-1.html

Just a few comments on Bad VooDoo's War. Overall, it was a good film. I like the 'embed' concept with the cameras because you see and hear the real thing. However, my concerns are with the general public and how they will perceive some things because there is a lot of context that is missing or unexplained. First, even though the platoon was training for convoy missions before deployment, some comments made it seem like they were 'surprised' by this mission when they arrived in country. Second, there seemed to be a lot of focus on Shaw, the PTSD-riddled gunner. If he truly does have PTSD, why not stay home and continue treatment? Get better and move on with life. No one will think less of you, considering he is a silver star winner. I applaud his decision to go for his buddies but then he starts complaining about the mission and Iraq and his failing relationship immediately, as if this deployment thing was all new. Finally, the platoon sergeant doesn't understand ROE or the changing nature of war. He states in previous deployments, if there was a car tailing a convoy, you could light it up without question (this must have been immediately following the invasion) but now they had to wait to get hit and even then they couldn't fire back like they want. That's what ROE are for, to ensure we don't shoot whatever we want. In 2006 (my perspective on Iraq), we could not shoot back unless fired upon or, like anytime since, if we felt threatened and had escalated attempts to prevent attack. Everyone kept repeating 'it wasn't like this last time' or 'we are infantry and are used to kicking down doors.' Guess what, the war and our role in it has changed continuously. I was commanding officer of an artillery battery and we deployed as convoy security too, in Anbar province which was the hottest place on the planet at the time. We drove up and down 'IED alley' all the time and got hit just about every time, and took almost all casualties there, often times right behind route clearance teams. They were lucky by getting hit only twice (at least according to the film) in 6 months. I am not trying to make my deployment sound more dangerous but again, my concern is that the average joe or jane, educated on Iraq by a biased media, will interpret this as more 'war is bad, the soldiers are getting screwed while Bush-Cheney laugh in DC' ammunition.

I posted more comments on my wife's blog:
http://www.fatekisminy.blogspot.com