Elliott's War

Truly awesome. You R not alone with the struggle within you. VietNam has left its scars on many of us, not allphysical. U R a courageous young man and I am proud to have watched your story. Welcome home and good luck.

This is a really excellent piece of work, exposing the reality of the effect of war on soldiers in Iraq. Much better than any of the dross we have to suffer on ''mainstream'' TV. Well done, a great bit of film making!

Very touching. This pod taught me more about the Iraq war than years of mainstream media brainwash.

For many soldiers, it takes more courage to admit to psychological problems than getting themselves killed.

I have a lot of respect for Elliot because he confronts his issues and deals with them, and has found a meaningful way to help kids with similar issues.

Very touching. This pod taught me more about the Iraq war than years of mainstream media brainwash.

For many soldiers, it takes more courage to admit to psychological problems than getting themselves killed.

I have a lot of respect for Elliot because he confronts his issues and deals with them, and has found a meaningful way to help kids with similar issues.

Congratulations!!! I feel very proud which our Country has people like your. Good Bless you!
Dr. GRADYZA ROY

Congratulations!!! I feel very proud which our Country has people like your. Good Bless you!
Dr. GRADYZA ROY

For its part, the Iranian government has denied charges that its nuclear program is directed at anything but peaceful purposes centered on the generation of electricity, and the Bush administration has yet to offer any conclusive evidence to the contrary. Teheran has vowed not to bow to the intense pressure emanating from Washington.

The Bush administration?s diplomatic maneuvering at the United Nations over the Iranian nuclear program is for all intents and purposes a re-run of its campaign to manipulate the UN in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq three years ago. Now, just as then, it is going through the motions of diplomacy with the aim of using the international body as a cat?s paw in US war preparations, creating a paper trail of UN resolutions as a supposed casus belli and pseudo-legal justification for aggression.

Meanwhile, the constant drumbeat of public statements from administration officials warning of Iranian nuclear weapons, support for terrorism and the preposterous insinuation that Teheran would hand over a nuclear weapon to Al Qaeda, all are aimed at creating a climate of fear within the American public.

There is no indication that the Bush administration has any interest in reaching an accommodation with Teheran. It appears determined to maintain the confrontation over the alleged weapons program, even if it requires brushing aside any possibility of a peaceful resolution.

Speaking to reporters Friday while traveling to Chile?where there have been demonstrations demanding that she be declared persona non grata for her role in the war against Iraq?Rice rejected a call by Russia for a continuation of talks outside the UN Security Council aimed at easing the crisis atmosphere.

On Thursday, Ambassador Bolton took the same position, implicitly threatening that if the UN Security Council failed to take steps against Iran?backed by a threat of military force?Washington would pursue its own methods for doing so. ?This is a test for the council,? he declared. ?And if the Iranians do not back off from their continued aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons, we will have to make a decision of what the next step will be.?

The stark resemblance of the current campaign against Iran at the UN to the one initiated by Washington three years ago against Iraq was referred to explicitly Thursday by Russia?s foreign minister. ?We aren?t reminding (everyone) who was right and who was not in Iraq, although the answer is obvious,? Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview on Russian state television. He called for the UN nuclear inspection agency to be given more time to review the Iranian nuclear program.

China has likewise criticized Washington?s bellicose threats against Iran. In a front-page statement published Friday, Beijing?s People?s Daily warned against the Security Council taking action against Iran.

?What is distressing is that the US government seems purposely to push the issue towards exacerbation,? the newspaper commented.

The statement continued by declaring that the US effort could result in ?passing a resolution on economic sanctions over Iran, e.g., oil embargo and freezing its overseas assets. However, such sanctions are unbearable for the current world oil market and large oil-consuming countries.?

It went on to pose the question: ?Since referring to the Security Council will not necessarily bring a solution to the issue, why is the US so eager to do it?? If Iran fails to capitulate, the newspaper predicted, ?the US in its turn will be able to find reasons for eventual surgical attack on Iran for itself and Israel, although the reasons would be barely enough.? It went on to warn that such action ?will further exasperate the Muslim community whose anti-US sentiment has already gone out of control and then lead to confrontation between the US and the entire Muslim wor

Saddam Hussein could have provided irreplaceable help to future historians of the Iran/Iraq war, of the invasion of Kuwait, and of the subsequent era of sanctions culminating in the current invasion. Uniquely privileged evidence on the American government''s enthusiastic arming of Saddam before they switched loyalties is now snuffed out at the tug of a rope (no doubt to the relief of Donald Rumsfeld and other guilty parties - it is surely no accident that the trial of Saddam neglected those of his crimes that might - no, would - have implicated them).

America''s real war aims are another matter entirely, and they are coming into focus as the situation on the ground develops. After all, why assume that what is currently happening in Iraq isn''t part of the program? Surely the Americans knew the dismemberment of the Iraqi state would have to mean Shi''ite hegemony, an empowered Iran, and the prospect of a regionalized conflagration. It defies belief that they didn''t: our rulers may be evil, but they sure as heck aren''t stupid,We have every reason to believe that the death and decomposition of the Iraqi state is precisely what they had in mind when they decided to invade in the first place. Furthermore, a civil war had to be the outcome of a sudden vacuum of legitimacy, and it was bound to be a religious conflict, pitting Sunnis against Shi''ites. Looked at in a larger context, it makes perfect sense that the War Party is now playing the "Shi''ite card," as the visit of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim to Washington indicates. Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), met with the president, chatted with Condi, and took a tour of the Pentagon. If we''re looking for the true origins of the "surge" strategy in Iraq A? the prospect of adding some 30,000 troops to "stabilize" Baghdad and rebel provinces A? we need look no further than Hakim''s Dec. 4 speech [.pdf] to the U.S. Institute of Peace:
The War Party is desperate to provoke the Iranians into a military conflict, and they are pulling out all the stops to do so. With economic sanctions against Iran already in place, and likely to be ratcheted up A? along with the anti-Iranian propaganda campaign A? the likelihood of war with the mullahs of Tehran is an eventuality that seems almost fated to occur, whether or not the American people support it. Less than half now believe a war with Iran in the next year is likely: however, I predict that number is bound to increase as 2007 drags on. The chances of war rise as we examine the positions of various prominent candidates for president on the Iran question, with even alleged peacenik Barack Obama openly musing that American military action is an "option."
George W. Bush has been savagely criticized and mercilessly mocked for declaring "mission accomplished" at the very moment when the anti-American insurgency was birthed, but in retrospect this makes perfect sense A? if one realizes that our mission was the utter destruction of Iraq. As a dress rehearsal for the larger event A? the coming Sunni-Shi''ite civil war that will go down in history as comparable to Europe''s Thirty Years'' War pitting Catholics against Protestants A? Iraq is truly a "model" for the rest of the region, albeit not in a way anybody but the perpetrators of this criminal policy expected.

Elliot, I am a psychologist working in a number of areas, but I am teaching a course in Crisis and Trauma Intervention to Master''s Level students this Spring 07. Know that I am using your pod for my class in order to make the impact of PTSD real for the students. Your efforts will help prepare others to assist those suffering from PTSD in the future! Keep working hard with the children!

Michael you touched me man. You truly did. Your testimony of your experience in Iraq is unfortunately one that is usually unaddressed and the veterans coming home from the Theatres of War and their families are usually the ones suffering the most IN SILENCE. I have some very similar PTSD issues not related to war but disturbing nonetheless and it is a very scary place to be. I hope you see my comment Mike and you can email me or Skype me at the information in my profile. I only live a state away and I would like to be a friend. You educated many and most certainly inspired me to start doing some podcasting on subjects that are not easy to address but need playtime as well. My dad was in WWII and he was never there and I am sorry to say, I truly mean that.. I never got to know him as he really never came back from his experiences of war. This situation certainly created a whole new set of problems in my life that I have had to address and resolve. Thanks Mike for being a brave wounded warrior and coming out with what war did and is still doing to your life. Perhaps when another marine sees this, your bravery will allow him or her to make the decision to seek treatment and learn how to try to re-adjust to life AFTER WAR.

Bogus''no graphic scenes''film started before he went people with pstd do not talk openly like that,all film is is showing scenes behind the combat.looks like a film to protest war and to keep people from entering service.

Very moving. It engages the viewer in thinking about the war in Iraq from a personal perspective. It also establishes it''s theme quickly. Well made.

However, viewers should have more information on the making of the video in order to evaluate it''s legitimacy. From the video comments mentioned so far, it appears that if you are against the war you like it, if not, you don''t.

More information on who made this, why it was made, etc. would allow a more objective review of it''s validity.

Here is but one example of a question of mine: How did the Iraqi combat footage wind up on this video? I would think that the combat video would be classified and illegal to place on the web. But I have no information to answer my question.

This is a GREAT pod. intereting subject, engaging film-making.