Events for 11/11/2009

"Stand Up for Wisconsin's Guard" candlelight vigil to call for the National Guard's safe return home and demand an end to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Event will include reading the names of the 100 Wisconsin soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the names of Iraqi and Afghan civilian victims, while we educate the public about the illegal nature of the Federal government's use of our National Guard.

Panel discussion and Exhibit opening. This Veterans' Day event will feature a discussion about an exhibit of portraits of Wisconsin Vietnam veterans, a sneak peek of a new WPT documentary on these veterans, and a panel discussion featuring four local Vietnam Veterans. One panelist will be Will Williams, a member of Veterans for Peace. A reception will follow the panel discussion.

Opening nation-wide on Veterans' Day, November 11th, Good Soldier, the incredible anti-war documentary featuring Madison Vet for Peace, Will Williams will be showing at the Sundance at Hilldale. Don't miss this important film which should be shown in every high school in the land!

Showtimes for the film will be 3:30 pm, 5:35 pm, and 7:40 pm. Tickets are on sale now. (Will will be speaking at the 1st and 3rd screenings.)

From a recent film festival revue:

An astounding film, The Good Soldier directed by Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys should be mandatory viewing for every President and member of Congress who is willing to make the decision to send men and women into war.

In a culture where many veterans do not speak back home of what they witnessed and participated in battle, this film portrays five combat veterans from different wars ranging from WWII to Vietnam to the Gulf War to Iraq who emotionally lay it on the line. The sheer humanity of such inhumane situations is astounding and riveting and heartbreaking. The courage it takes for these soldiers to speak of their darkest moments and moral dilemmas with such brutal honesty is to be commended and brings up questions of our government supporting those they would send to die who did not die but came home. War puts you at odds with what is right and wrong, one veteran explains.

Their training as soldiers is to become killers without remorse, but as one asks, "How do you turn that off? One day you're killing then the next you're sitting at a bar in New York City."

In wars where the enemy looks just like the innocent civilian, collateral damage leaves its mark on the psyche of the soldiers which haunts them for the rest of their lives. As one veteran who is a founder of Veterans for Peace states, "War is not the way to settle a disagreement."

For a trailer, go to: http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=20590