Baghdad ER

by DarkSyde
Mon May 22, 2006 at 03:43:45 AM PDT

Broken bodies and broken spirits:

Source--After three years, there are at least 550,000 veterans of the Iraq war. The Washington Post interviewed several who were still in the service, and others who weren't -- to hear what their war was like and how the transition home has been. A constant theme was that the public is largely unaffected by the war, and, despite media exposure, doesn't understand what it's like.

The HBO Special Baghdad ER gives a tiny glimpse as to what it's like. This riveting documentary follows the events in the emergency room of the 86th Combat Support Hospital, or CaSH as they call it, in Baghdad's Green Zone during a two-month period last year. It is raw, it is graphic, it is heartbreaking. The film is politically neutral, and for the most part the soldiers seem supportive of US efforts in Iraq. But one trauma surgeon summed up a possible explanation for that perspective when he said "I have to believe we're doing some good, otherwise, this is sheer madness."

Watching the film, I was struck by the bravery of our men and women under fire, the expertise of the medical teams in the CaSH unit, and the stark reality of warfare. It is not glorious or inspiring: It's young Americans being shredded by I.E.D.s and V.B.I.E.Ds, losing limbs, eyes, and their lives, while other Americans try to save them and comfort the survivors.

"You can learn about war by walking through this facility...the horrors of what man can do to man are visualized right here. But we do our best, our level best, to make sure our people survive and make it back to their homes." -- Col. Casper P. Jones III, Commander, 86th Combat Support Hospital

Whatever one's take on the war, if you think you can handle the images, I believe we owe it to our troops to watch this program.

Perhaps viewers will have their respective take on the war reinforced, whatever they may be, by watching. My anger at the cowardice and stupidity of those who got our Armed Forces and the entire country into this mess only grew throughout the documentary. And whatever horrors are revealed in the film, it's sobering to realize they're multiplied many times among the Iraqi civilians everyday who are caught in a civil war, with little or no access to the same quality of care provided by the exceptional medical personnel portrayed in Baghdad ER.

Source-- In a crowded downtown Baghdad restaurant, a man detonated explosives strapped to his waist, killing at least 13 people and wounding 18 others. In east Baghdad, curious shoppers gathered around Iraqi policemen trying to defuse a bomb planted at the entrance of the New Baghdad Market. The bomb exploded, killing three people and wounding 20. In the northwest of the city, a car bomb parked along a road killed three Iraqis and wounded 15.

Link here