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The Writing Experiment (my blog)

March 19, 2008

It’s five years since the start of the Iraq War.

While we’ve been sitting on the couch watching the 4th, 5th, 6th season of American Idol, 160,000 American sons and daughters are on the ground in a foreign desert, for their 4th, 5th, 6th tour of duty, not knowing exactly what they’re doing there.

Michael Hoffman remembers Iraq. In fact this Allentown resident said he started shaking on his way to class at Muhlenberg College this morning, when he heard a news clip about the five year anniversary of Bush’s rush to war.  It’s just one symptom of the post-traumatic stress disorder he deals with after fighting in a war with a false cause.

Hoffman was one of three on a panel at the college tonight, talking about “Exit Strategies: 5 Years at War.”  Brian Mello, Professor of Political Science at Muhlenberg and David Halperin, Senior Vice President at the Center for America Progress joined him. But all ears seemed riveted on Hoffman, who said with conviction, we need to pull out our troops now, not in 5 years, 10 years or 100 years. The longer we stay, the bloodier and more difficult it will be.

I met Hoffman years back, when he first came home from Iraq and co-founded Iraq Veterans Against the War. His feelings seemed overwhelming at the time, his voice was still finding its way. Standing on the stage today, he’s a different guy, an articulate college student speaking with authority about the power of people when we organize, about the need for democrats to “get a backbone” and stop voting to support the war, and about how the media plays into the problem.

“I find it painful the U.S. media chooses to ignore us,” he said, shaking his head. As part of Iraq Veterans Against the War’s goals, Hoffman helped organize the “Winter Soldier” Eyewitness Accounts in Washington D.C. (Winter Soldier testimony posted online), an event last weekend where more than 200 Iraq war veterans spoke on record about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hoffman’s team thoroughly documented the testimony so reporters would have it at their fingertips. But, when he called the Associated Press, they chose not to cover it. In fact, even though all of the Iraqi news channels and the BBC covered the veteran testimonials; there was an almost complete blackout in  U.S. media.

Hoffman is right. This kind of obfuscation of the facts keeps veterans feeling alone and separate. That way, their voices are less powerful. But, what does our media gain by remaining silent when a critical mass of veterans speak out?  Think about it.  What has happened to our journalistic integrity in the U.S.? 

But Hoffman still believes the “power of the people” won't easily be squelched. We need to do more than vote, he said. “I didn’t just vote in the 2004 election. I was in Washington that January to protest Bush’s second inauguration," he said.

I agree. We need to vote, but that’s not enough any more.  Then we have to go out and hit the streets.