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A cautionary tale for Americans about the hidden, but very real consequences of wars of choice. Iraq was THE war six years ago. Afghanistan was “the forgotten war.” The opposite is true in 2010, but even as the United States escalates in “AfPak,” the discord and damage in Iraq remain—as do 49,000 US troops and thousands or private military contractors. Between 2004 and 2006, Brian Palmer followed young U.S. Marines on dozens of missions during three trips to Iraq. From 2006 to 2009, he continued to document the war and its human cost by following news from Iraq and by tracking one Marine, the main character, through his struggle to repair body and soul after two deployments.
Iraq footage shot on patrols and missions forms the bulk of the film. We see young Marines navigate an alien culture and landscape. To accomplish their mission—and to survive— they must determine instantly who is a threat and who isn't, though they don’t speak Arabic and have poor translators. These men are trained to fight, not to heal or build. So they improvise, sometimes with benign results and other times with tragic ones.
Iraq footage shot on patrols and missions forms the bulk of the film. We see young Marines navigate an alien culture and landscape. To accomplish their mission—and to survive— they must determine instantly who is a threat and who isn't, though they don’t speak Arabic and have poor translators. These men are trained to fight, not to heal or build. So they improvise, sometimes with benign results and other times with tragic ones.
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