Voice of the Iraq Veteran #3
Harvey Tharp is a former US Navy Lt. who served in Kirkuk, Iraq from 2003 to 2004. He resigned from the Navy rather than go back. In this episode of “Voice of the Veteran” he explains what turned him around.
“Women Together As One”
“As a filmmaker and sociologist, I work to uncover power relations reflected in discourses of race, gender, class, sexuality and notions of empire to stimulate critical and creative thinking, a sense of agency and a revolution in consciousness.”
Gilda L. Sheppard, Ph.D.
Gilda Sheppard’s documentary film “Women Together as One” was the first ever short film selected for showing by Fest Afrique 360 at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival in France. Gilda generously allowed us to feature it on our show (PepperSpray’s Lila Kitaeff got editing credits on this piece).
“Women Together as One” focuses on work Sheppard did with Liberian women refugees who live at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana, West Africa. She worked with the refugees to organize and design classes for economic sustainability (computer literacy, adult literacy, cosmetology, catering, sewing and tie and dye workshops) and school scholarships for their children.
In this piece we see the women, strong and powerful, full of laughter and life, breaking media “victim” stereotypes at the rate of 30 frames per second.
Global Voices: The world is talking. Are you listening?
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org
Indymedia Presents is also available as an RSS feed at:
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BE THE MEDIA!
Pepperspray Productions formed shortly after the WTO protests in Seattle, in response to the Independent Media Center’s call, “don’t hate the media, be the media!”. We believe that the Corporate Media is not telling us the whole story, and that the people must make our own media if we want our voices to be heard.
Related websites:
Independent Media Center
http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml
Indymedia NewsReal
http://www.newsreal.indymedia.org
Free Speech TV:
http://freespeech.org
Thank You Lt. Watada
http://www.thankyoult.org
Courage To Resist
http://www.couragetoresist.org
Iraq Veterans Against the War
http://www.ivaw.org
Veterans for Peace
http://www.veteransforpeace.org
Military Families Speak Out
http://www.mfso.org
Gold Star Families for Peace
http://www.gsfp.org
“Indymedia Presents” is a 28 minute weekly cable public access program produced on behalf of the Seattle Independent Media Center (IMC) by PepperSpray Productions. In addition to SCAN Channel 77 in Seattle, “Indymedia Presents” also airs on channels in greater King County (Channel 23), Bainbridge Island (Channel 12), Port Townsend, WA (Channel 47 & 48), Olympia, WA (Channel 22), Vancouver, WA (Channel 11), Portland, OR (Channel 22 and a few others), Tucson, AZ (Channel 73), St Paul, MN (Channel 15), Minneapolis, MN (Channel 17), Fort Wayne, IN (Channel 57), and on New York City’s Manhattan Neighborhood Network, (Channel 34).
Duration : 0:27:40
The Corporal Chris Mason Memorial Open Car Show 2008. The car show generated over $2,400.00 dollars for “Homes for Our Troops”
On 2 May 2009 there will be another Cpl Chris Mason Car Show; the funds raised at this show will be given to the “Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund.” The fund is for the purpose of providing educational scholarships to the sons and daughters of Fallen and disabled service members.
Duration : 0:0:46
Dr. Coppola, author of Coppola: A Pediatric Surgeon in Iraq, had reservations as he left behind his wife and three sons for a war he did not understand. But Dr. Coppola would fulfill the promise he made to six years of service in exchange for a military-issued medical scholarship that allowed him to pursue his dream of being a pediatric surgeon. Twice-deployed to the 332 Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Dr. Coppola bore witness to some of the most appalling aspects of war, including soldiers and children battered and mutilated in the crossfire. Shaken by what he saw, he passed sleepless nights writing letters to friends and family. Coppola: A Pediatric Surgeon in Iraq draws on the pain of these letters, revealing an uncomfortable side of the war yet to be told.
Duration : 0:2:33
Barack Obama meets with young Iraq war veterans.
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Barack Obama stopped by Walter Reed Army Medical Center Saturday to visit wounded war veterans, a group that he has said endures substandard care under the Bush administration.
The presumed Democratic nominee, who was in Washington to speak to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, spent about two hours inside the facility. On his way in and out, he did not speak to the small group of reporters who follow him, and the visit wasn’t on his public schedule.
Obama has criticized the Bush administration for its treatment of veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and has suggested Republican rival John McCain would continue Bush policies if elected.
The administration was roundly criticized last year after it was revealed that veterans at Walter Reed were housed in rundown accommodations and suffered neglectful care.
Obama has said the country has failed its veterans by allowing such “second-rate conditions,” by not giving troops enough time at home and not doing enough to support military families.
During his remarks later Saturday before the Latino group, Obama said “we have to treat our veterans better.”
“We’re betraying what I think is a solemn pact that we make with our veterans,” he said.
And in a speech at a rally with his former Democratic opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday, Obama said voters have a choice about whether to continue spending billions of dollars every month in Iraq, and leave troops there for 20 years, 50 years or 100 years _ a line that elicited boos from the crowd.
On veterans issues, McCain is seen by his supporters as having the advantage of military experience _ the Arizona senator was a Navy pilot, and spent nearly six years as a Vietnam prisoner of war after he was shot down.
Obama, who serves on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, often notes that his grandfather served in World War II.
He criticizes McCain for opposing an expansion of the GI bill to guarantee full college scholarships for those who serve in the military for three years. McCain and Pentagon officials say they oppose the bill because they fear it would encourage people to leave after only one enlistment during a war.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/29/barack-obama-quietly-visi_n_109826.html
Duration : 0:4:52
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2007/10/03/Wesley_Clark_A_Time_to_Lead
Retired four-star general and former Democratic Presidential candidate Wesley Clark criticizes the course of U.S. foreign policy in the wake of September 11, 2001.
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Wesley Clark discusses “A Time to Lead.”
Wesley Clark sought the presidency during the 2004 elections, seeking to bring a less hawkish perspective to the White House. After the campaign, Clark did not end his crusade for what he sees as a better America, one that supports his vision of a responsible foreign policy. He believes that hard work, leadership and determination will ultimately turn the country around. – The Commonwealth Club
Wesley Clark is a retired four-star general of the United States Army. Clark was valedictorian of his class at West Point, was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he earned a master’s degree in economics, and later graduated from the Command and General Staff College with a master’s degree in military science. He spent 34 years in the Army and the Department of Defense, receiving many military decorations, several honorary knighthoods, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Duration : 0:8:13
The Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation is dedicated to providing college scholarships and educational counseling to the children of military personnel who are killed in the line of duty.
Duration : 0:3:16
Iraq war veteran and conscientious objector Pablo Paredes discusses being recruited during college.
Duration : 0:3:4
Iraq war veteran and conscientious objector Pablo Paredes discusses being recruited during college.
Duration : 0:3:4
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/03/09/The_Unforgiving_Minute_A_Soldiers_Education
West Point graduate and US Army veteran Craig Mullaney discusses when his platoon was ambushed in Afghanistan and the emotional consequences of losing a soldier during combat. “When you’re doing causality evacuation drills in ranger school, the stretcher doesn’t get slippery with blood,” says Mullaney.
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Craig Mullaney, a West Point grad, Rhodes scholar, and Army Ranger recounts his unparalleled education in the art of war and reckons with the hard wisdom that only battle itself can bestow. – Politics and Prose Bookstore
Craig Mullaney grew up in a blue-collar, Irish-Catholic family in Wickford, Rhode Island. He was an all-state wrestler at Bishop Hendricken High School and received his nomination to the U.S. Military Academy from the late Senator John Chafee.
As a cadet, Craig studied history and was a member of the sport parachute team, completing over 450 freefall skydives and earning a professional performance rating. He graduated West Point in 2000 and was commissioned in the United States Army. After completing Ranger School, Craig continued to the University of Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship. At Oxford, he completed two masters degrees, rowed for Lincoln College, and played on the university lacrosse team.
In 2003, Craig led an infantry rifle platoon along the hostile border between Afghanistan and Pakistan with the 10th Mountain Division as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. His platoon operated along the entire spectrum of military operations’ from humanitarian assistance with the first Provincial Reconstruction Team established in Afghanistan to combat engagements against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Following his return to the United States, Craig joined the elite 3rd Infantry Regiment, “The Old Guard,” in Arlington, Virginia, responsible for Arlington Ceremonial burials, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and defense of the National Capital Region. He served for three years as the Army Exchange Officer to the history faculty of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland where he focused on American foreign policy and directed the international scholarships program.
After leaving the military, Craig served as a national security adviser on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, led veterans outreach efforts in western Pennsylvania, and was the Chief of Staff for the President-elect’s Department of Defense Review Team. Craig’s military decorations include the Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal with “V” device, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Ranger Tab, and Parachutist Badge.
Duration : 0:2:59
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/03/09/The_Unforgiving_Minute_A_Soldiers_Education
West Point graduate and US Army veteran Craig Mullaney discusses when his platoon was ambushed in Afghanistan and the emotional consequences of losing a soldier during combat. “When you’re doing causality evacuation drills in ranger school, the stretcher doesn’t get slippery with blood,” says Mullaney.
—–
Craig Mullaney, a West Point grad, Rhodes scholar, and Army Ranger recounts his unparalleled education in the art of war and reckons with the hard wisdom that only battle itself can bestow. – Politics and Prose Bookstore
Craig Mullaney grew up in a blue-collar, Irish-Catholic family in Wickford, Rhode Island. He was an all-state wrestler at Bishop Hendricken High School and received his nomination to the U.S. Military Academy from the late Senator John Chafee.
As a cadet, Craig studied history and was a member of the sport parachute team, completing over 450 freefall skydives and earning a professional performance rating. He graduated West Point in 2000 and was commissioned in the United States Army. After completing Ranger School, Craig continued to the University of Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship. At Oxford, he completed two masters degrees, rowed for Lincoln College, and played on the university lacrosse team.
In 2003, Craig led an infantry rifle platoon along the hostile border between Afghanistan and Pakistan with the 10th Mountain Division as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. His platoon operated along the entire spectrum of military operations’ from humanitarian assistance with the first Provincial Reconstruction Team established in Afghanistan to combat engagements against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Following his return to the United States, Craig joined the elite 3rd Infantry Regiment, “The Old Guard,” in Arlington, Virginia, responsible for Arlington Ceremonial burials, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and defense of the National Capital Region. He served for three years as the Army Exchange Officer to the history faculty of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland where he focused on American foreign policy and directed the international scholarships program.
After leaving the military, Craig served as a national security adviser on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, led veterans outreach efforts in western Pennsylvania, and was the Chief of Staff for the President-elect’s Department of Defense Review Team. Craig’s military decorations include the Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal with “V” device, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Ranger Tab, and Parachutist Badge.
Duration : 0:2:59