Independent filmmakers Paul Hubbard and Robert Malin attended a three-day conference held by Iraq Veterans Against the War in March 2008. Though the event was streamed live on the Web and blogged about, it was not widely publicized by the major networks or cable news channels (Keith Olbermann's Countdown being a rare exception). Its relative obscurity, combined with Hubbard and Malin's excellent reportage, make Winter Soldier II a vital new addition to Openfilm's growing library of superlative documentaries.
The first "Winter Soldier Investigation" was held by Vietnam Veterans Against the War in the first few months of 1971. The purpose was to find out whether massacres like the one that happened at My Lai were isolated incidents or more widespread. One of the participants was John Kerry, who would go on to run against George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election.
The testimonies at Winter Soldier II are given by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hubbard and Malin captured some dramatic footage of soldiers ripping up awards and throwing away medals, but the strongest stuff is usually the simplest. Many of the participants confess that they couldn't speak Arabic at the time they were deployed, and the home raids they conducted are described as pointless as counterproductive. Familiar faces from the New Left were there to cover the event, like Amy Goodman, the voice of Democracy Now!; Jeremy Scahill, the author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army; and Dennis Kucinich, the congressman and former presidential candidate. They talk candidly about Iraqi casualty figures, news coverage of the war and the U.S. embassy in Iraq, which was built after the '03 invasion and is the largest of its kind in the world (and which, according to Scahill, President Obama has no intention of closing).
The filmmakers have included some hard-hitting footage of the war. Some might say that graphic images like these should be on the news every night, but since they're not, I would say that viewer discretion is advised.
