Fear Not The Path Of Truth: A Fallujah veteran's documentary by Ross Caputi (full docu)

[BelgianMadCow]

Trailer:

Background:

Possibly the most heart wrenching consequence of these sieges is the public health crisis that emerged a couple years after the fighting. All of the scientific research on this topic suggest that the weapons that were used in the two sieges of Fallujah polluted the city to such an extent that there are now enormous rates of birth defects and cancers in Fallujah. Today, 14% of all children born in Fallujah are born with birth defects. And the cancer rates in children are 12 times the expected rates in a healthy population. These figures have led many people to compare Fallujah with Hiroshima. So not only did the sieges of Fallujah hurt people in 2004, but they are still hurting people today, and unless we do something about it they will continue to hurt the future generations as well.

This information might seem shocking to you. That's because it isn't being discussed in the US. And that's why I'm making this documentary. I feel strongly that America needs to know about the human consequences of our foreign policy. So what I did was I took a camera and interviewed 10 of the best experts on the topic of Fallujah.

The facts and the analyses given by the experts I interviewed challenge the narrative told by the US military and the mainstream media about what happened in Fallujah in 2004 and what the consequences were. Beyond that, I think this documentary also offers a fresh perspective on issues that veterans struggle with, particular issues that don't get enough attention.

There have been plenty of documentaries that deal with the horrors of combat, or the struggles that veterans have with PTSD, or their difficulties with reintegrating into society. But few have dealt with the moral injury that veterans incur from having participated in something that violates their sense of right and wrong. Moral injury from war is only starting to get the attention it deserves.

That's from the kickstarter page. He made the docu available for free, you can find it here: http://thefallujahproject.org/home/node/103

WARNING: some graphic images

On edit: I did not know the long history of Fallujah as a center of resistance. I had barely an idea of the many layers of "Jihad". I did not know that to this day, "Bremer's Orders" still stand in Iraq, because the government is afraid their citizens might sue them for crimes committed. I do know that I respect the veteran who made this very, very much.

PS: Anybody know how to embed vimeo on DU?

[L0oniX]

1. "This information might seem shocking to you." No it isn't shocking to me.

I knew this would happen ...and Fallujah isn't the only place this is happening.

[dougolat]

2. What IS shocking is that it can be so completely ignored! ...nt