Redacted’s timing shows bad taste, judgement

The left knows no shame. Director Brian De Palma in his new movie “Redacted” is trying to convince the American people that our soldiers aren’t good enough to make good sound decisions when the pressure mounts and when things are tough and mistakes are made our troops might resort to raping little girls and murdering families. Well, Mr. De Palma, I agree ... to a point.
WHAT?!
That is right. I have a news flash for all of us. Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors are men and women just like me and you. And if we can have 30 plus kids killed on the campus of Virginia Tech or 180 plus killed in Oklahoma or an 11 year old girl kidnapped raped killed and buried under a porch in Florida or two people cruising up and down Maryland and Virginia interstates shooting citizens at random then we can certainly expect that out of the over 1.4 million people serving in our armed forces some of them could be capable of the horrors that happened in Mahmudiya, Iraq.
In case you don’t know, a group of five US soldiers raped a young girl and murdered her family. They confessed and have been sentenced. “Redacted” is about this incident. Between this and Abu Grab American service personnel have made the job of securing Iraq infinitely harder. And, by doing such have put more lives in danger. The people who committed this war crime deserve death. Instead they got lengthy prison sentences.
So how can I say that our service men and women might commit atrocities and war crimes? Well, because it’s true. While our service folks might be brave heroes as a whole, and often individually, they are also just like you and I — susceptible to the same dysfunctions, neurosis and abnormalities that all of us are apt to suffer from time to time. There is no reason to assume that the armed services can weed out every person prone to “crazy”.
Where Mr. De Palma and I differ is that I don’t think a dramatization of these events helps in the least. I don’t think showing a movie about the worst our country has to offer is fair. I don’t think it is timely. I don’t think it is necessary. I don’t think it helps one bit. Mr. De Palma is quoted as saying “The movie is an attempt to bring the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people.” This movie is not an accurate portrayal of what goes on in Iraq. I have not seen the movie. Yet I can still with confidence say that a 90 minute or 5 hour movie can not do justice to “what is happening in Iraq.” The shear arrogance of this man infuriates me. I have studied Iraq now for over three years and I can only just begin to grasp the intricacies of this conflict. To boil it down into a movie and suggest that it is in any way representative of our troop’s efforts over there is foolish.
This left wing idiot is doing grave damage to his country. The worst part is that the very troops he demonizes are the ones fighting to protect his right to make this hit piece on America. His arrogance is a product of his being removed from the actual fight. If Islamic extremists were imposing Sharia law in his pretty neighborhood, how long do you think it would take Brian De Palma to change his tune? Mr. De Palma the very reason this is news, the very reason this was in the spot light, the very reason that you might make two cents off the blood of Iraqis and Americans is that behavior like that of these murderous soldiers is rare. The vast majority of our service men and women are professional and effective.
What is “happening in Iraq” is not murder and war crimes it is the work of quiet professionals giving their lives so that you have a safe environment to create counter productive “art.”

By Benjamin Cook,
columnist