'I Love the Army But I Can't Be Quiet Anymore'

A growing number of active duty soldiers at Fort Hood are speaking out against the seemingly endless war in Iraq and have started their own chapter of IVAW, Iraq Veterans Against the War, a growing national veterans' movement, whose website is http://ivaw.org/.

This war has already lasted longer than World War II and has cost almost as much in terms of real dollars, and will definitely surpass that amount at some point. That is hard to believe, that the sinkhole of Iraq could cost more than defeating both the Japanese Empire and the Third Reich, two real and powerful threats with real armies, navies and air forces, and millions of men to fill their ranks. But two things in particular are different now. One is that the war is heavily "privatized", that is, left exposed to all the predations of corporate greed and corruption, which has been monumental. The other factor is that in WWII we were fighting real, tangible entities. In Iraq, we are fighting an archetype, which scatters with the sunrays and moonbeams daily. The archetypal terrorist is here, there, everywhere, phantomlike, possessed of magical powers and the quintessential embodiment of evil.

Not that we aren't killing a lot of people, but they are largely the Devil du Jour, one day a Sunni fighter when we are against Sunnis, the next day a Shiite when we are against Shiites, and sometimes we're against both at the same time. Then there is al Qaeda in Iraq, with which label we often tar whomever we're feeling hostile to that week, because that is the ultimate demonization tag, making it easier to rationalize killing whomever. But they don't seem to want to go away either, al Qaeda in Iraq, even though we keep announcing that we've decapitated the leadership.

On the collective subconscious level, we are fighting demons in our own heads.

When the smoke and dust from bombs has settled and the blood has dried, far from being able to say that this has brought us a step closer to "Tokyo" or "Berlin", we often find that, shit, we just bombed someone's house and turned another family, community or village against us, a few more young or old men swearing blood vengeance against us, for you see an archetype comes out of our heads, and is projected onto flesh and blood people who bear no resemblence to our mental concept of them and naturally resent being shot at, tortured, pillaged or raped. So they fight back, actively, passively, covertly, whatever. A violent occupation by nature sows the seeds of its own undoing over time.

After a half a trillion dollars spent, at least, on what was supposed to be a low-cost cakewalk, with hundreds of thousands dead, this should be obvious, but it isn't to a large section of the population and ruling class in America who perceive reality in terms of ideology, archetypes and collective egotism, "us against them" to the end of time.

The State of the (Iraqi) Union

We are told fairy tales every day by the government and corporate media that things are getting better every day and every way in Iraq. So why are Americans dropping four times as many bombs as several years ago, still launching major offensives, spending some 11 billion dollars a month, and on and on? Because the delusion that Iraq is some sort of quasi-American suburb under attack by alien "terrorists" is just that, a delusion. Despite all the internicene conflict that we have helped foster by continuousy playing one side off against another, this is still a war of resistance against a brutal, brutal occupation, no matter how many candy-bars the Pentagon tells you they have handed out. Most red-blooded Iraqis are going to continue to fight against the occupation just as we would, if, say, China came over here to "liberate us". But most Americans are so far down the rabbit hole that they can't see this.

Anyway, one of the best and well-sourced journalists on the planet is Pepe Escobar, who writes The Roving Eye column for Asia Times. He has just published his own State of the Union retort to Bush's recent speech. However, Pepe's piece refers to the state of union in Iraq. This is such an important bucket of reality to splash in our collectively stupored faces that I am including a fair bit of it below, plus the link to the entire report:

The state of the (Iraqi) union

By Pepe Escobar

I say this to the evil Bush - leave my country.
We do not need you and your army of darkness.
We don't need your planes and tanks.
We don't need your policy and your interference.
We don't want your democracy and fake freedom.
Get out of our land.
- Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraqi Shi'ite leader

The George W Bush-sponsored Iraqi "surge" is now one year old. The US$11 billion-a-month (and counting) Iraqi/Afghan joint quagmire keeps adding to the US government's staggering over $9 trillion debt (it was "only" $5.6 trillion when Bush took power in
early 2001).

On the ground in Iraq, the state of the union - Bush's legacy - translates into a completely shattered nation with up to 70% unemployment, a 70% inflation rate, less than six hours of electricity a day and virtually no reconstruction, although White House-connected multinationals have bagged more than $50 billion in competition-free contracts so far. The gleaming reconstruction success stories of course are the Vatican-sized US Embassy in Baghdad - the largest in the world - and the scores of US military bases.

Facts on the ground also attest the "surge" achieved no "political reconciliation" whatsoever in Iraq - regardless of a relentless US corporate media propaganda drive, fed by the Pentagon, to proclaim it a success. The new law to reverse de-Ba'athification - approved by a half-empty Parliament and immediately condemned by Sunni and secular parties as well as former Ba'athists themselves - will only exacerbate sectarian hatred.

What the "surge" has facilitated instead is the total balkanization of Baghdad – as well as the whole of Iraq. There are now at least 5 million Iraqis among refugees and the internally displaced - apart from competing statistics numbering what certainly amounts to hundreds of thousands of dead civilians. So of course there is less violence; there's hardly any people left to be ethnically cleansed.

Everywhere in Iraq there are myriad signs of balkanization - not only in blast wall/partitioned Baghdad. In the Shi'ite south, the big prize is Basra, disputed by at least three militias. The Sadrists - the voice of the streets - are against regional autonomy; the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC)- which controls security - wants Basra as the key node of a southern Shi'iteistan; and the Fadhila party - which control the governorate - wants an autonomous Basra.

In the north, the big prize is oil-rich Kirkuk province, disputed by Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Turkmen; the referendum on Kirkuk has been postponed indefinitely, as everyone knows it will unleash a bloodbath. In al-Anbar province, Sunni Arab tribes bide their time collaborating with the US and controlling the exits to Syria and Jordan while preparing for the inevitable settling of scores with Shi'ites in Baghdad.

Obama and Hillary vs Iraqis

Meanwhile, in the Democratic party presidential race, Hillary Clinton, who voted for the war on Iraq, viciously battles Kennedy clan-supported Barack Obama, who opposed the war, followed at a distance by John "can a white man be president" Edwards, who apologized for his initial support for the war. Obama, Edwards and Clinton basically agree, with some nuance, the "surge" was a fluke.

They have all pledged to end the war if elected. But Edwards is the only pre-candidate who has explicitly called for an immediate US troop withdrawal - up to 50,000, with nearly all of the remaining out within a maximum of 10 months. Edwards insisted Iraqi troops would be trained "outside of Iraq" and no troops would be left to "guard US bases".

For their part, both Clinton and Obama believe substantial numbers of troops must remain in Iraq to "protect US bases" and "to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq". This essentially means the occupation grinding on. Both never said exactly how many troops would be needed: they could be as many as 75,000. Both have steadfastly refused to end the "mission" before 2013.

It's hard to envision an "occupation out" Obama when among his chief advisers one finds former president Jimmy Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski - the "grand chessboard" ideologue who always preached American domination of Eurasia - and former Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross, who always fought for Israel's dominance of the "mini-chessboard", the Middle East.

So far Obama has not given any signs he would try to counter the logic of global US military hegemony conditioned by control of oil; that's why the US is in Iraq and Africa, that's the reason for so much hostility towards Venezuela, Iran and Russia. As for Clinton - with the constant references to "vital national security interests" - there's no evidence this twin-headed presidency would differ from Bush in wanting to install a puppet, pliable, perennial, anti-Iranian, peppered-with-US-military-bases regime in Iraq.

But more than US presidential candidates stumbling on how to position themselves about Iraq, what really matters is what Iraqis themselves think. According to Asia Times Online sources in Baghdad, apart from the three provinces in Iraqi Kurdistan, more than 75% of Sunnis and Shi'ites alike are certain Washington wants to set up permanent military bases; this roughly equals the bulk of the population in favor of continued attacks against US troops.

Furthermore, Sunni Arabs as a whole as well as the Sadrists are united in infinite suspicion of the key Bush-mandated "benchmark": the eventual approval by the Iraqi Parliament of a new oil law which would in fact de-nationalize the Iraqi oil industry and open it to Big Oil. Iraqi public opinion as a whole is also suspicious of what the Bush administration wants to extract from the cornered, battered Nuri al-Maliki government: full immunity from Iraqi law not only for US troops but for US civilian contractors as well. The empire seems to be oblivious to history: that was exactly one of ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's most popular reasons to dethrone the Shah of Iran in 1979....

to read the entire Roving Eye Report, click here.

The Joys of the Bush Paradigm in Iraq

What have we wrought?














Outside a morgue in Baquba, Iraq, family members cry near the body of a 17-year-old girl killed during a raid by Iraqi forces. It has been five years since the authorization of US military force in Iraq.
(Photo: Reuters) (source: Truthout.org)

The Buddha said over two thousand years ago that hatred will never vanquish hatred. Only love can vanquish hatred. This is an immutable law of the universe.

America, collectively, went into Iraq with hatred and racism in its heart. Underneath all the fine rhetoric was a deep lust to strike out and punish, if not destroy, a people we have never had any real awareness of, substituting instead decades of Hollywood stereotypes about evil, violent, thieving, lascivious Arabs. These stereotypes, although more subtle than the Nazis' fragrant stereotypes against the Jews, have been every bit as deadly. America has actually transferred this traditional Western and Germanic/Anglo-Saxon anti-Semitism against Jewish peoples, dating back hundreds of years, for a self-righteous anti-Semitism against the Arabs, because, if you even know, Arabs and Jews are both considered Semitic peoples. They were both cut from the same cloth geographically and ethnically. Moslems and Jews even share the same ancestral "grandfather", Abraham.

So if educated Americans have ever wondered how in the world the sophisticated German people could have gone along with the Nazi agenda, with the massive crimes against humanity, with the endless passion for war, violence and torture, all we have to do is look at ourselves for the last six years and how we have leisurely walked down the seductively negative path of fear, violence and loathing. We have now perpetuated a Holocaust in Iraq, with anywhere from half a million to over a million dead, with some two million plus Iraqis in external exile, another two million in internal exile. Hundreds of thousands are sick, wounded, depressed, deranged, unemployed or in prisons, overt or covert, some of which still practice torture beyond prying eyes.

This is America's self-expression in the world today, massive death and suffering, compliments of the traditional Right-wing, the corporate Merchants of Death, and the Trotskyite-style Neocon fanatics. They will inevitably say in their alienated, sophistic ways, "So what, who cares, they're sub-human, and enemies of Christ or Jehovah or the American Century anyway."

But it does matter, because now this is their and our Karma. And what goes around comes around. So how will America work its way out of such terrible crimes? Is this even possible, to offer contrition at this point and try to make amends?

Even worse, America has made itself less and less human by dehumanizing others, so cruelty and inhumanity will follow us home, so to speak. Our social and political interactions within America will coarsen and harden, indeed they already have. The faux Social Darwinism of the 19th Century has returned with a flourish - the survival of the fittest, the richest, best armed and most unscrupulous.

And then we have the walking wounded. For those who have literally shot and killed or tortured Iraqis, particularly women and children, they now have their demons and ghosts inside of them permanently, no matter how they try to repress this black hole through liquor and drugs and self-denial. And we have thousands of GIs or ex-GIs carrying this burden.

This is why I don't go and beat my neighbor and burn his house down in a fit of paranoia or sadism, because I know it will all come back on me, sooner or later, no matter how invincible I think I might be. The human ego, no matter how arrogant it is, is not running the Universe. A God of Truth and Justice is. And it isn't any different for nations.

Pity the nation.

December....taking it easy

December is a month I prefer to "slow down" and catch up on stuff. So posting at mosquito blog will probably be "erratic" this month instead of a daily process....

Tonight the Naro is showing Iraq in Fragments which I'm definitely looking forward too...along with other peace fest events this month.

Wishing ALL a "happy holiday" whatever and however you are choosing to celebrate.

Buzz...Buzz...

Iraq in Fragments at Norfolk's Naro Theatre...

Wednesday, December 13, 7:15 p.m., at the Naro

The feature film Iraq in Fragments will be the opening film of the Light in the Dark Film Festival at the Naro. Filmed in cinema-verite style, director James Longley's poetically rendered documentary looks at contemporary Iraq through the eyes of Sunnis, Shites, and Kurds. Stories include a fatherless 11-year-old apprenticed to the cruel owner of a Baghdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rallying for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; and a family of Kurdish farmers welcoming the U.S. presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied. Winner of three Documentary awards at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival: Best Director, Cinematography, and Editing (94 minutes)

Introducing the film, and the situation in Iraq concerning the targeting of teachers will be former liaison officer for Doctors Without Borders, Nabil Al-Tikriti:

Nabil Al-Tikriti (naltikri@umw.edu) received his Ph.D. in Ottoman and Islamic History from the University of Chicago in 2004 and joined the University of Mary Washington faculty the same year. Concurrent with his academic career Prof. Al-Tikriti has spent several years working in international emergency relief and election monitoring in several countries in the Middle East, Balkans,and Africa. His scholarly interests include Ottoman History, Modern Iraq, and Human Rights

Hampton Roads Peace Celebration

Welcome to the Second Annual
Light in the Dark Festival for Peace
Sponsored by the
Tidewater Peace Alliance
throughout December 2006
10 Regional Film Premieres at Naro Cinema
Peace Festival Seminars and Special Events
Peace Festival Seminars and Special Events
Primary event location:
The Studio for the Healing Arts
1611 Colley Ave., 2nd floor (one block north of the Naro)


FIFTH ANNUAL FAIR TRADE FESTIVAL

Friday, December 1, 3-10 p.m.

Saturday, December 2, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.,
Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Princess Anne and Blow Streets in Ghent

Coffee, chocolate, hand-made crafts, and other goods from both local artists and fairly paid artists and farmers from around the world. Music, poetry, theater, and spoken word! Shop for change this season!

BRINGING IT HOME

Sunday, December 3, 1-4 p.m. :

Seminar at the Studio for the Healing Arts

Admission: Please bring a food donation to serve the homeless: pasta, canned goods, flour, etc.

Moderator: Susan Posey

* Community Supported Agriculture * Farmers Market * Becoming a Fair Trade town * Buying Fair all year round * Introduction to the Hampton Roads Fair Database

Free Food Served by Food Not Bombs

SAMIDOUN

Wednesday, December 6, 7:15 p.m

Seminar at the Studio for the Healing Arts

Admission $10

In Attendance: Ana Noguiera and Andrew Stern

Samidoun: a multimedia journey through the 34 day war in Lebanon and its aftermath, produced by award-winning independent reporters Ana Nogueira and Andrew Stern. Interweaving still photography, audio and video, Samidoun is a uniquely intimate look at the human cost of this conflict that took the lives of over 1200 people, wounded thousands more, and displaced over one million.

RECEPTION FOR THE FILM MAKERS 6 p.m. at Azars Restaurant, 2000 Colley Ave.

The Second Saturday Salon:
Fire and Light, and Off-Road Search for the Spirit of God

Saturday, December 9, 8-11p.m.

Free and open to the public

Faciliator: John Robertson, author of Fire and Light

“In FIRE AND LIGHT, Jon Robertson searches for evidence of a unifying spiritual intelligence among the world's religious texts, scientific theories, and spiritual philosophies. This off-road quest leads him through the Bible, the Qu'ran, and the Bhagavad Gita to psychotherapists, mystics, and even a retired sailor from Southern California. At the end of his pursuit, Robertson discovers a powerful and loving force accessible to everyone on the planet.”

Bring a dish to pass

Walk In Their Shoes: Remembering the Children

Wednesday, December 13, 5:30 p.m. in front of The Naro Cinema

Organizer: Carol Manuel

A silent visual tribute to the thousands of children who have been casualties of the invasion and occupation of Iraq will be held in front of the Naro Theater on Colley Avenue. Children's shoes bearing the names, ages, date of death, and the circumstances of the death will be laid out in tribute to the innocent lives that have been snuffed out as a result of war and violence since 2003. A brief reading of names and candle lighting will take place at the opening of the display. You are invited to participate in this memorial to the Iraqi children

Iraq in Fragments

Wednesday, December 13, 7:15 p.m., at the Naro

The feature film Iraq in Fragments will be the opening film of the Light in the Dark Film Festival at the Naro. Filmed in cinema-verite style, director James Longley's poetically rendered documentary looks at contemporary Iraq through the eyes of Sunnis, Shites, and Kurds. Stories include a fatherless 11-year-old apprenticed to the cruel owner of a Baghdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rallying for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; and a family of Kurdish farmers welcoming the U.S. presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied. Winner of three Documentary awards at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival: Best Director, Cinematography, and Editing (94 minutes)

Introducing the film, and the situation in Iraq concerning the targeting of teachers will be former liaison officer for Doctors Without Borders, Nabil Al-Tikriti:

Nabil Al-Tikriti (naltikri@umw.edu) received his Ph.D. in Ottoman and Islamic History from the University of Chicago in 2004 and joined the University of Mary Washington faculty the same year. Concurrent with his academic career Prof. Al-Tikriti has spent several years working in international emergency relief and election monitoring in several countries in the Middle East, Balkans,and Africa. His scholarly interests include Ottoman History, Modern Iraq, and Human Rights

Sufi Dances of Universal Peace,

Friday, December 15, 8-10 p.m.: Studio

$10 (space is limited so come early)

Location: Studio for the Healing Arts

The Dances of Universal Peace are simple, meditative, joyous, multi-cultural circle dances that use sacred phrases, chants, music and movements evocative of the worlds many sacred traditions.

Offered as "body prayer" in a spirit of sacredness, the dances promote peace and create an integrated experience of body, mind and spirit, helping dancers to gain direct experience of the unity of all.

No experience is necessary - the dances are simple and are taught each time by a trained facilitator.

Kids for Peace Art Fest

Saturday, December 16, 1-4p.m.

Location: Studio for the Healing Arts

Organizers: Sonia Monson and Dani Vedros

Please join us for an afternoon of art, music and fun for the entire family. Kids 18 and under are welcome to submit art work in any medium for display at the Art Fest. Performance art, spoken word, poetry or musical performances are also welcome. This is a non-competitive and inclusive event where the joy of giving and receiving our unique gift is embraced and celebrated. The theme for this year is “Creating Peace: Within Ourselves, our Community and our World”. This event is part of the Light in the Dark Peace Festival.

You can submit art ahead of time at The Studio for the Healing Arts at 1611_D Colley Ave or bring it with you the day of the event.

Transforming Ourselves and The World: The Premiere of the Dharma Gaia Satyagraha Sangha

Sunday, December 17, 1-4 p.m.

Location: Studio for the Healing Arts

Free and open to the public

Facilitators: Tom Ellis, Mac McKinney

Join us for the premiere of a biweekly, ecumenical sangha (community of practice) dedicated to exploring the universal Dharma set forth by all the great sages of the past, as applied to the political and ecological crises of the day by such Satyagrahis as Gandhi, King, Mandela, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Wangari Maathai.

DOUBLE FEATURE AT THE NARO

Tuesday, December 19, 6 p.m. "Invisible Children"

Discussion Facilitator: Duke White

No admission charge for this film. Donations will be collected.

INVISIBLE CHILDREN The filmmaking adventure of three young Americans who have traveled to Africa is transformed into much more when they find themselves stranded in Northern Uganda. What they discover is a tragedy of huge proportions-a true story in which children are both the weapons and the victims, being abducted from their homes and forced to fight as child soldiers. With coverage on Oprah, CNN, and the National Geographic Channel, this film has taken on a life of its own, empowering youth across the world to change culture, policy, and lives. (60 mins)

Tuesday, December 19, 7:30 p.m."Dorothy Day: Don't Call Me a Saint"

Discussion Facilitators: Steve and Kim Baggerly from Catholic Worker House

DOROTHY DAY: DON'T CALL ME A SAINT: Few people have had as lasting an effect on the world as Dorothy Day, who was born in 1897 and was a noted journalist and social activist who was arrested for participating in various social protests. How is it that Day (who died in 1980) now finds herself on the path to sainthood, already bestowed by the Vatican with the title "Servant of God"? In 1933 she co-founded the left-leaning Catholic Worker newspaper. The subsequent movement spawned by this publication became one of the leading proponents for social and economic justice for the poor. Directed by photographer Claudia Larson. (60 mins)

"Angry Gods: Theocracies Wage War", Seminar

Wednesday, December 20, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Location: The Studio for the Healing Arts

Moderators: Junaid S. Ahmad and Rev. Paul Boothby

The role of the state and media corporations to spread a message of fear and retribution has been well documented. But how are religious values and ethics compromised by Christian, Judaic and Islamic institutions in order to align with the militant goals and human rights abuses of the nation state? Film clips from such new movies as Jesus Camp and Passionate Voices will be shown with discussion led by expert facilitators.

Junaid S. Ahmad is a J.D. candidate in law at the College of William and
Mary, Williamsburg, VA.

Rev. Paul Boothby is Minister of the Unitarian Church in Norfolk.

First Annual Peace Walk in Ghent

Friday, December 22, 5 p.m.

Begins at Bella Yoga on Colley Ave.
Sponsored by: Tapestry Inc.

Opening circle with prayer, song and setting of intention at Bella Yoga
Please join us for an evening of reflection and communion as we use walking meditation to unite as a community with an intention of universal peace. We will walk silently through the streets of Ghent aligning our hearts with a common wish for peace and then we will celebrate the solstice with an open house at the Blair Building.

Winter Solstice Celebration: An Embodied Invocation for Peace, Compassion and Global Healing

Friday, December 22: , 7-10 p.m.,

Location: Studio for the Healing Arts, $10.00 (space limited, come early.)

Please join us for one of the final events in the Light in the Dark: Festival for Peace, an evening of dance, drumming, meditation and ritual in celebration and invocation of peace and compassion within ourselves, our community and our world.

Facilitators: Dani Vedros, Elizabeth Gay, Alexandra Kedrock and the Drum Group Beleza

For more Information: http://www.studioforthehealingarts.org/ or e-mail dvedros@cox.net

"I Know I am Not Alone"

Friday, December 27, 9p.m.

Location: Special showing at The Boot, 123 21st Street in Ghent

The Reel Prospects for Peace: Israeli Cinema 1948-2006 (Part 1)
Seminar

Wednesday, January 3, 2007, 7p.m.:

Location: The Studio for the Healing Arts

Moderated by Dr. Avi Santo, Assistant Professor of Communications at Old Dominion University

This new seminar uses selected clips from Israeli films spanning nearly sixty years to engage an audience in a conversation about how peace and conflict have been represented on the silver screen and what these shifting images suggest about real ongoing strategies for peace in the Middle East.
=====================================================================================================================================
10 Regional Film Premieres at Naro Cinema

Film dates and show times. See below for full film synopsis.

Naro Expanded Cinema
1507 Colley Ave. in Ghent


Wed, Dec 13
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS 7:15

Thurs, Dec 14
WORDS OF MY PERFECT TEACHER 7:15

Friday, Dec 15
SHUT UP AND SING 7;15
U.S. versus JOHN LENNON 9:15

Sat, Dec 16
SHUT UP AND SING 2:30
U.S. versus JOHN LENNON 4:15
INTO GREAT SILENCE 6:15
SHUT UP AND SING 9:15

Sun, Dec 17
INTO GREAT SILENCE 2:30
SHUT UP AND SING 6:00
U.S. versus JOHN LENNON 7:45

Mon, Dec 18
AT THE GREEN LINE
plus short TALKING PEACE 8:00

Tues, Dec 19
INVISIBLE CHILDREN 6:00
DOROTHY DAY: Don't Call Me a Saint 7:30
SHUT UP AND SING 9:15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ten Premiere Films at the Naro Cinema/ Descriptions

INTO GREAT SILENCE The unlikely European arthouse hit arrives in America! What would it be like to renounce the modern world and live a communal cloistered life? After years of asking for permission, filmmaker Philip Groening was finally granted the opportunity to live with the Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, a monastery in the French Alps, and film their simple daily lives. We find that all of their rituals of prayer, work, meals and meditative walks are imbued with the spirituality of the present moment. Large portions of the narrative are entirely silent, and the gorgeous visuals within this unique film transform the cinema into a great monastery where we're granted a palpable experience of the contemplative life. (160 mins)

IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS Filmed in cinema-vérité style, director James Longley's poetically rendered documentary looks at contemporary Iraq through the eyes of Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. Stories include a fatherless 11-year-old apprenticed to the cruel owner of a Baghdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rallying for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; and a family of Kurdish farmers welcoming the U.S. presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied. Winner of three Documentary awards at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival: Best Director, Cinematography, and Editing. (94 mins)

SHUT UP AND SING The Dixie Chicks were at the height of their popularity as the national-anthem-singing darlings of country music and top-selling female recording artists of all time when they made their now infamous anti-Bush comment in 2003. The film follows the lives and careers of the three women over a period of three years, during which they were under political attack and received death threats while continuing to live their lives, have children, and of course make music. The film ultimately presents who the Dixie Chicks are as women, public figures, and musicians. (93 mins )


WORDS OF MY PERFECT TEACHER The renowned Bhutanese Buddhist "king", scholar, filmmaker (The Cup, Travellers and Magicians), avid soccer fan, and world teacher Dzongsar Kyentse Rinpoche is the subject of this terrific new documentary. Filmmaker Lesley Ann Patten breathlessly chases Kyentse around the world-the UK, Bhutan, Canada, the U.S., and the World Cup playoffs in Germany-in what becomes her own spiritual quest. This is a rare opportunity to spend time with a Buddhist Master who says it's time for his students to "wake up" and has no qualms about revealing secrets that many have spent lifetimes searching for. And he does so with a perfect command of English! The film is set to a world beat that includes music by Sting. (100 mins)

INVISIBLE CHILDREN The filmmaking adventure of three young Americans who have traveled to Africa is transformed into much more when they find themselves stranded in Northern Uganda. What they discover is a tragedy of huge proportions-a true story in which children are both the weapons and the victims, being abducted from their homes and forced to fight as child soldiers. With coverage on Oprah, CNN, and the National Geographic Channel, this film has taken on a life of its own, empowering youth across the world to change culture, policy, and lives. (60 mins)

No admission charge-donations to be collected.

DOROTHY DAY: DON'T CALL ME A SAINT Few people have had as lasting an effect on the world as Dorothy Day, who was born in 1897 and was a noted journalist and social activist who was arrested for participating in various social protests. How is it that Day (who died in 1980) now finds herself on the path to sainthood, already bestowed by the Vatican with the title "Servant of God"? In 1933 she co-founded the left-leaning Catholic Worker newspaper. The subsequent movement spawned by this publication became one of the leading proponents for social and economic justice for the poor. Directed by photographer Claudia Larson. (60 mins)
Norfolk Catholic Workers Steve Baggarly and Kim Williams will facilitate a post-film discussion.

TALKING PEACE Jews and Palestinians come together in the suburban home of a San Diego couple to share their stories and their pain. This intimate film documents what happens when a human face is put on those considered to be the enemy: a foundation of trust that can grow. (30 mins) Plus 2nd feature....


AT THE GREEN LINE Military service in Israel is mandatory, and the act of refusal is considered treason. Regardless, a "Courage to Refuse" movement has been growing steadily among high-ranking soldiers and officers. This powerful film takes the viewer to the front lines of the conflict with Army reservists who patrol the occupied territories and interact with Palestinians. Through interviews they reveal their struggle to reconcile individual conscience with responsibility to, and love for, one's country. (60 mins)

I KNOW I'M NOT ALONE Armed with an acoustic guitar and a video camera, musician Michael Franti takes us on a musical journey through war and occupation in Iraq, Israel, and Palestine. Along the way he shares his music with everyday people who in turn reveal the often overlooked human cost of war. (90 mins)

U.S. VERSUS JOHN LENNON Lennon's transformation from Beatles rock star to anti-war activist to iconic inspiration for peace is documented by biographers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld. They reveal the U.S. government's attempt to silence Lennon, showing that this was not just an isolated episode in history but that the issues and struggles of that era remain relevant today. (PG13, 99mins)