Still LS/EST capitol

(Music)…

01:00:08  History is made by the people in power

Music Cue 1 “Igniting a Flame” begins

war footage

01:00:17  History is made by people who speak out

Cong. Moran on hill –

MORAN: This has been the worst foreign policy fiasco  in American history

Cheney/Bush still; Rummy still

BRADY: These people were living in a dream world, they thought that power was the power to make other people do what we wanted.

protest footage

01:00:33  Challenging power makes change possible

protesters

HAGLER: They will be sorry on the day that they understood that they woke up the sleeping giant, called the American people.

John Bruhns in fatigues

01:00:47   History is made those who reveal the truth

John Bruhns o/c

JOHN: I was personally hurt to find out that every reason I was told that I had to go to that country, invade that country, go to war with that country, was false.

 Camilo Mejia w/ MP’s

01:01:02  …And the truth is upheld by people of courage

Camillo Mejia CU & put into MP’s car.  Camilo o/c

CAMILO: Conscientious Objection is a right that we have and that is protected not only by army regulation but also by the US Constitution.  I’m not a criminal.

Adele Welty’s arrest

01:01:18   History is made by people who show up:

Stills var protesters

ADELE: Democracy should be a form of government that the people control, not a bunch of politicians or rich people, all the people.  It’s not a spectator sport. 

Supreme Ct.

01:01:36  Participation is encouraged and protected by the US Constitution.  The First Amendment proclaims:

M1 continues

 Supreme Court

“Congress shall make no law …abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”

Cong. Rangel

US capitol

RANGEL:  And so one day, when they ask us, what did you do & what did you say, and was your voice heard?  You would know that as a result of you being here, that you were heard, you did do something and you were the beginning of turning this around.

Text cards over shots of peace flag waving: Dream Catcher Films, Inc. presents. Finding Our Voices:  Stories of American Dissent.  Narrator, Martin Sheen. 

(Music only)  TEXT:

2:12 Dream Catcher Films, Inc. presents…

2:16 FINDING OUR VOICES:  Stories of American Dissent

2:24 Martin Sheen, Narrator

M1 ends 01:02:26

 WTC explosion etc.

01:02:28  In a time of community crisis the response often changes and defines the community.

M2 – “FOV OPEN” begins -1:02:28

Stills of faces affected by 9/11

01:02:48  The terrorist attack on the US in 2001 was just such a defining moment in American history.

Stills: Flowers and God Bless America

But it is crisis that has produced a divided reaction…

War footage; pro war rally flags waving; Group Shot of Characters at Lincoln Memorial.

01:03:03  While US leaders and much of the general populace moved towards war, responding with flag waving and guns, a somewhat smaller and less recognized citizenry asked for a more measured response.

Bombing of Baghdad

protesters

01:03:18  They asked that we consider diplomacy, international cooperation and a deeper understanding of non western points of view. They argued that a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq was not only illegal under international law, but fundamentally ‘un-American’.

M2 – ends at 01:03:35

Protest Shots: kid with megaphone; marching, White House protest;

Chant: The people united, will never be divided (repeated)

Marchers; Adele Welty in Congress; Cong Moran at town meeting

01:03:44  This is the story of 8 Americans.  They took to the streets, the halls of congress, and their individual communities…

M3 – “Adele’s 9/11” begins 01:03:36

At Lincoln Memorial: Camilo Mejia; Adele Welty; Graylan Hagler

01:03:52  They were courageous, patriotic, out spoken…and as we now know…prophetic.

Iraqi girls on street.  2 Iraqi boys, 1 w/ only 1 leg.  Adele o/c talking re: trip to Jordan

WTC collapse 9/11; stills faces affected by 9/11

01:04:02  ADELE:

Muhammad asked 2 questions of us.  Did any mother see her son die?  And why is this happening?  I saw my son die.  I was 5 streets away from the WTC when it collapsed.  I knew that my son was there, and I watched from the window of my office as the towers collapsed.  There were 3000 mothers, brothers, sisters, more than 15,000 children who lost parents that day.

Still – Tim by fire truck

01:05:05 Adele Welty was one of those mothers. Her son Tim, 34 years old, was a husband and father of two small children… he was also a New York City fireman committed to saving lives.

Still Timmy in uniform; firepole & truck pull out firehouse

Adele:

He loved being a fireman.  He always arrived early and left late. If he hadn’t left late on September 11th he’d have been home when the buildings collapsed.

Pull out of WTC rubble; flag waving

01:05:38  While Americans were reeling from the shock of the tragedy of September 11 2001…the administration tied together the terrorist attack on the US with their aim to overthrow the government of Iraq.

Bush State of the Union 2003

Bush: And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation and every region now has a decision to make, either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.

WTC rubble;

blowing paper; Adele o/c 

Adele:

Americans watched this on television and they were very angry, and the government used that anger to lie to the people and say it was Iraq who did this,  & they believed it.  And so when you ask why is this happening, it is because the lie has been told again and again and again, and it begins to sound true. 

M3 – “Adele’s 9/11” ends 01:06:46

Adele walk in the park.  Adele entering her front door

01:06:48  Adele Welty refused to buy into the anger rhetoric of the administration which stirred the country to a war fever.

There is no M4 music cue.  It was omitted, nx cue is M5.

Adele flipping through photo album. 

Adele o/c

ADELE:

I felt it was an abomination that he would die trying to save lives, and as a result of that tens of thousands would lose their lives.  So I felt that I needed to build a legacy in his name. I did not want him to be just a statistic of 9/11.

Adele on streets; Code Pink marchers; Adele marching with banner; Capitol police

01:7:23   Adele turned her grief to action and helped establish ‘September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows’, a group which believes that war is not the solution to terrorism.  Two days before the US invaded Iraq, Adele risked arrest by marching to the capitol.

 Adele near cops

01:07:40  Upon arrival she and her companions were confronted by a force of well armed police.

 Police w/ bullhorn

COP: If you cross this police line, you will be subject to arrest.”

 Adele o/c; Adele getting arrested

ADELE:

I didn’t think they would arrest us because the 3 people from peaceful tomorrows that were leading the group we were all senior citizens and I thought they would not do anything (laughs).  But the closer I got to them and I saw how very big they were, and they had their hands on their billy clubs I got scared.  And sure enough when we reached them, they arrested us.

M5 – “Adele at gunpoint” begins 01:08:01

 Adele getting arrested

01:08:26   If there is an image of what an activist looks like….how often does a 66 year old grandmother come to mind?   And her arrest on the capitol grounds was just the beginning…

M5- ends 01:08:35 fades into M6

Adele in Jordan; Iraqi’s talking. 

01:08:38  After the war began, Adele was part of a delegation that brought medical supplies to Iraq; she saw how the war was affecting the people of Iraq…and she brought her observations home.

M6- “Adele in Iraq”  begins 01:08:36

Iraqi’s talking and crying.

ADELE:

We listened to stories of horrors for a week, horrors being perpetrated in the name of Democracy

M6 – “Adele to  Iraq” ends  01:09:02, fades into M7 “For Timmy”

Shots of Adele on Capitol hill

01:09:05  In her ‘golden years’ when she could be taking it easy, enjoying her grandchildren… resting from the more intense labors of life, Adele has chosen instead to fight for the constitution. She speaks for peace, and meets with members of congress, promoting policies that protect First Amendment and civil rights.

M7 Continues

Adele in Congress; Stonewalk; marching; Timmy; Adele at Lincoln Memorial

Adele: There are times when my inclination is to say, that’s it I really can’t do this anymore.  But then I think of Timmy and how do I want him remembered, the answer is that in order to keep Timmy’s memory alive and to build a legacy in his name, I have to keep going.

M7 – “For Timmy” ends 01:09:56  There is no M8…Music was omitted; nx cue is M9 

ACT 2

Brady Kiesling at Lincoln Memorial; dissolve to him walking to State Dept

(BRADY reading resignation letter):

01:10:02   Dear Mr. Secretary:
I am writing you to submit my resignation from the Foreign Service of the United States and from my position as Political Counselor in U.S. Embassy
Athens, effective March 7 2003. I do so with a heavy heart.

M9 – “Ambassador Kiesling” begins 01:09:57

Brady on Lincoln Memorial steps

01:10:18 Shortly before the US invasion of Iraq a twenty-year senior diplomat, at the height of his career resigned from the State Department in protest against the impending war.

Stills:  Brady at table; Brady w/ 2 others; shaking hands w/ soldiers in Bosnia

Brady reading:

Service as a U.S. diplomat was a dream job. I was paid to understand foreign languages and cultures, to seek out diplomats, politicians, scholars and journalists, and to persuade them that U.S. interests and theirs fundamentallycoincided. My faith in my country and its values was the most powerful weapon in my diplomatic arsenal.

Brady on monument steps; Stills:  Brady shaking hands w/ soldiers & in front of plane.  Brady still B&W

01:10:56  For John Brady Kiesling resignation was no easy decision…

In 1993 Kiesling had been one of a group of diplomats who used internal channels to protest the US lack of involvement in Bosnia, and was instrumental in moving the Clinton administration to intervene in that country’s genocide.

Brady on Lincoln Memorial steps

01:11:18  But with the inauguration of the Bush presidency in 2001… Brady’s view of his vocation began to change.

M9 continues

President Bush Inauguration stills; Bush gives thumbs up;

Brady o/c at Korean Memorial

Brady:

When the Bush administration came in, it was clear that they had no way of judging what a good diplomat was.  George W. Bush came to office believing that to be an effective president you had to show yourself tough and decisive.  The problem is that the image he projected in the United States, which worked pretty well there, was catastrophic in the diplomatic terms abroad.

M9 – “Ambassador Kiesling” ends at ‘decisive’ 01:11:40

M10 “Resignation” begins 01:11:47

Brady facing Wash monument

01:11:54   When the government ignored diplomacy with Iraq the diplomat’s 20 years of experience as a negotiator and bridge builder demanded a response

 Brady o/c; b-roll Brady on Princeton campus

BRADY:  I knew the war would start in March,  I knew that if I was going to do anything at all to transform my misery into some kind of effective pubic statement it had to take place in February. That blinding insight when it came, came in the middle of February.   It took a week to think about it and then I jumped off the cliff. 

 Still Brady on mt top

01:12:28  Jumping off the cliff wasn’t just giving up a life time career… With a daughter starting college and no certain job to go to, resignation from his “dream job” held some serious practical risks. 

Brady walking at war memorial; Brady speaking at book signing

01:12:42   And there was no guarantee of success… to many it appeared a futile act.  But after his resignation letter was published in the New York times, news spread rapidly over the internet and through public appearances, he inspired many.

M10 – “Resignation” ends 01:12:45

M11—“Ripples Across Internet” begins 01:12:48 

Brady speaking at book signing & o/c 

BRADY:

The thing that surprised me agreeably was how my resignation letter struck a chord and entered this new internet community that I really had no idea that existed. 

 MS TV screen & remote control; Stills:  Democracy Now & Amy Goodman;  web page screen grabs.  Dissolve w/ resignation letter.

01;13:10   In the days leading up to the war there seemed to be two very distinct sources of information.  Despite the fact that a large segment of the population opposed the war, the main stream media recorded few oppositional views.  But the internet and less traditional media displayed a broader range of opinion. 

Images from web

01:13:31  Through the internet, Kiesling’s letter reached millions of people around the world in a very short period of time.

M11 continues

Brady walking to State Dept

01:13:40   Nonetheless, he and other peace advocates felt isolated; they wondered if individual acts of dissent could make a difference in a world where television and newspaper dominated.

M11—“Ripples Across Internet” ends 01:13:52

 Brady in front of State Dept

Still Brady w/ Ann Wright etc.

01:13:52   Within a few weeks of Brady’s resignation, two other diplomats joined him in publicly opposing the war.

M12—“Moral Clarity” begins 01:13:55

Still:  CU Brady

Brady o/c Korean War memorial

BRADY:  There’s only 1 decision in my life that I have absolutely no doubts about.  And that was my decision to resign.  At the time I made it, I was sure.  I waited a week to be sure, and didn’t change at all.  2.5 yrs later, I’m still sure.  Moral clarity is what Pres Bush wants.  He finally gave me moral clarity.

M12 – “Moral clarity” ends 01:14:25

ACT 3

US Capitol

01:14:26   Without dissent there would be no United States… from the earliest cries of ‘taxation without representation is tyranny,’ we have evolved politically and socially through acts of protest, and subsequent reform.

M14 – “Acts of Protest” begins 01:14:26

Cong. Jim Moran

speaking before congress

JIM:

This has been the worst foreign policy fiasco in American history.  Now we’re being told that we’re there to fight Al Qaeda. Ladies and gentlemen, there were no Al Qaeda in Iraq when we went into Iraq. Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11.

M14 – “Acts of Protest”  ends 01:14:50

Capitol; demonstration on mall; Gael marching with Code Pink banner

01:15:06  Always change is the result of the efforts of those working inside the system and those outside, a balance and dialogue between grass roots activism and progressive lawmaking.

Gael on street w/ Code Pink; on stage raising peace sign.  Gael & Mom at WH protest; circle of women sing & clap

01:15:21  In response to a potential U.S. Invasion of Iraq, a group of women started Code Pink to protest and vigil for peace….early on Gael Murphy emerged as a leader.

circle of women; Code Pink banner; Gael Murphy o/c

Gael:

I jumped into code pink somewhat naively.  I really honestly deeply believed that we could stop the war.  I felt that it was an unjust enough threat that the American people would see through it and that there would be a large mobilization against it.

Code Pink Banner BUSH LIED from building; cookies; umbrella

01:16:05  Code Pink took its name to parody the Bush administration’s terror alert system… one that would be a symbol for a different way of looking at policy.

Gale on Street talking to cop off screen

Gael:

Don’t use my tax dollars to shut me out on the sidewalk.  That’s not fair, and you

stifle debate doing that.  You stifle debate, you stifle opposition, which is why we’re in this war.

Code Pink demonstration in front White House

Cong Moran in Congress speaking

01:16:27  Gael and her colleagues made dissent dramatic, and presented the case for peace to the American people.  While street activists used demonstrations and political theater to make their point, progressive law makers worked inside the halls of congress to affect policy.

WS speaker of House & Congress; Mural of Sadam Hussein

JIM:

I opposed the war for a number of reasons; one is that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. He had no ability to attack us. It was claimed that he had weapons of mass destruction but we didn’t have verifiable evidence that that was true despite all the claims by the president, vice president and secretary of state etc. It just wasn’t founded in any kind of factual evidence

 Jim leaving office

01:17:19   Congressman Jim Moran, Democrat of Virginia, was one of a minority of  Congress members to oppose the war in Iraq from the beginning. 

M15 – “Fiasco” begins 01:17:18

 Capitol, Jim on Cap steps

While 133 congressional representatives voted against the war, few did so with the potential of such a huge loss of political capital.

 Outside Jim’s Office w/ Map of VA 8th district, Pentagon…

01:17:37  The 8th district of Virginia is home to the pentagon, two large army bases and many military businesses.

Jim shaking hands w/ folks at coffee shop

JIM:

But when I took a strong position against the war, I wasn’t doing it to necessarily represent my constituency, but rather to represent my own beliefs. There are some issues that are just important enough that you’ve got to take a stand.

M15 Continues

Moran Speaking at Moran/Murtha town meet

JIM: I support the troops clearly. I appreciate what they’re doing … But we owe it to them, particularly legislators but also the American people, to make sure that if we’re willing to risk their lives, It’s for a noble purpose.

M15 – “Fiasco” ends 01:18:15

Code Pink in front of WH;

Women chant:  No war in Iraq, we want our country back.

Code Pink in front of WH

01:18:20  Women have long struggled for the soul of the nation; and Code Pink members, one could argue, are heirs of the movement to attain rights for women. 

M16 – “History of Dissent” begins 01:18:28

Archival stills of women in jail

From the founding of the United States it took 144 years for women to be fully enfranchised. 

Archival stills of women in jail; old still of capitol

01:18:37  It wasn’t until newspapers reported illegal arrests of protestors, and torture by force feeding, that public opinion swung in the women’s favor.

Signing of the amendment; dissolve to Code Pink at White House chanting

01:18:46   In 1920 congress passed the 19th amendment to the constitution, granting women the vote … white women; it would be another 45 years, until the voting rights act was passed in 1965, that all American women enjoyed their constitutional rights.

Gael at monument. 

01:19:07  Inside and Outside… this is how our nation has evolved over the 200 years of the republic.

M16 – “History of Dissent” ends 01:19:16

Gael at computer, poster fr event; Iraqi women.

01:19:15 Because justice often remains unfinished, and activists know that raising awareness is a not enough, Code Pink’s ongoing work includes issuing policy reports, political bridge building and bringing Iraqi women and labor members in touch with their American counterparts.  For Gael her present involvement grows out of a life time of commitment.

M17 “Code Pink in Mideast” begins 01:19:20

Gael at Monument; Gael o/c interview; Iraqi’s

01:19:31  GAEL:

Since I was 20 I worked in developing countries, so I’ve seen for a long time the disparity between my country and how other countries barely make it.  And a  pivotal moment for me was having visited Iraq and seen the Iraqis for who they are and not the propaganda that I’d been hearing from the media about what evil people they were, but actually seeing how much like us they are and  realizing that we were about to destroy the country.

M17 Continues

Iraqi kids; Gael o/c interview

GAEL: (And) it was a very changing moment for me, when I realized that I probably couldn’t think of anything more important at the moment than to try to stop that.

M17 – “Code Pink in Mideast” ends 01:20:24

Code Pink Women w/ banner in Mideast; Gael on street

01:20:27  From different backgrounds and experience, Gael Murphy and Jim Moran found themselves in the early months of 2003 on a collision course with the administration.

Music cue M18 omitted.  There is no music here, next cue is M19

Jim walks outside capitol

Jim o/c

JIM: There are several reasons why we are actually in Iraq. One of them I think is political. George Bush was slumping in the polls here.  Throughout history leaders that have suffered lack of popularity among their constituencies, they generally go to war. It unites everybody behind the leader.

Pro war rally, flags waving; Jim o/c

Oil pump & scenic

JIM:

And I also think the first few weeks of the administration with vice president Cheney’s energy taskforce there was a lot of discussion, I suspect that led to this decision to go to war in Iraq.  So I think that was probably some motivation to have access to that ready supply of oil.

Jim at town Meeting

01:21:31  Despite opposition both activists continued there efforts to present information and view points not often expressed in the mainstream media.

Gael at CACI demonstration

Gael: We are here to ask questions and as taxpayers who paid for the contracts you received, we feel we have the right to know the answers.

Lady with Bull horn/Rumsfeld

01:21:49  Woman: Can our returning troops expect to have their benefits cut yet again, Mr. Rumsfeld?

Pat w/ Bull  horn

Pat: Have you found any weapons of mass destruction today, Mr. Rumsfeld?

Protesters w/ CNN & Fox signs.

01:21:58  Because, for the most part, the main stream media failed in its responsibility to explore and challenge the premise for war, active dissenters took their voices and questions to the public officials responsible for the invasion of Iraq.

M19 – “Media Criticism” begins 01:21:58

More on street action; Gael o/c interview; ABC doors and cops

GAEL:

Media wasn’t doing a very good job of reporting on the voices of dissent to the war.  So these were also opportunities for the voices of dissent to be the media.

Protesters in front of CBS;

Rumsfeld

going into building; 

01:22:26  Woman: I think it’s a shame that a government of the people, by the people and for the people will not talk to the people or listen to the people.

Instead they sneak around, hiding in underground garages, sneaking in and out of back doors.

Gael on street; Warner waving. 

Gael: Come talk to us. Come talk to us Senator Warner.

Woman on street ‘

Woman at ABC:

I’m here today cause I’m just really disgusted with the way the media is and with the fact that there’s no debate.

Sen. Biden going into ABC; Gael on street and cop

Gael:

Senator Biden, come talk to us. Senator Biden we need to talk to you.

Cops on street

Sam:

Senator Biden doesn’t want to talk today about the war.

Cops on street

01:23:10 Code Pink was not alone in media criticism…

Jim Moran o/c interview; FOX protests.   

JIM : we need to take our country back from the right wing hate mongers that saturated the radio air waves, we need to take it back from the politicians who have figured out who to use religion and greed to advance their own objectives.

M19 – “Media Criticism” ends 01:23:37

Street footage

01:23:38  The efforts of Jim Moran, Gael Murphy and other progressives didn’t stop the war; and as the conflict continued they shifted their efforts to changing the government that had started the war and took their protests to the 2004 Republican National Convention.

M20 – “Pink Slip” begins 01:23:45

Gael’s arrest

01:24:00  Gael Murphy was one of thousands arrested at the Republican National Convention.

young men being arrested; cops slapping hands.

01:24:06  Mass arrests at the RNC and at political rallies around the country were part of a coordinated effort to marginalize and even silence dissent.

M20 Continues

Arrests in halls of Congress. 

01:24:18  Protest and civil disobedience are traditional elements of American dissent; not crimes.  Yet often, law enforcement preemptively arrest activists in a show of force … a warning to others.

Gael waving to crowd with Capitol in back, Medea and Ann at Canadian embassy.

01:24:39  Despite not having criminal records, some activists are on FBI watch lists …unable to travel freely.

Gael Murphy has been targeted by police for her actions and has been banned from Capitol Hill.

Gael near Capitol but not on grounds.

Gael:

Capitol’s cracking down now.  We’re banned from the whole perimeter.

 Gael near Capitol but not on grounds.

01:24:57  But when there are efforts inside the system and outside… silencing opposition is difficult… and enlightened law makers encourage the voices of the people.

M20 “Pink Slip” ends 01:25:05

Moran Interview

capitol

Jim: Change today is not going to come from the top down. It has got to come from the bottom up.

M21 “Ballad of Jim Moran” begins 01:25:06

Flag; Moran o/c; capitol

Jim:

As a nation, individually and collectively through whatever means of communication we have we have to speak out and say I don’t want this anymore, this isn’t my country. I am going to change things. I am going to insist that my leaders, at the local, at the state, at the federal level start acting differently, with different motivation, different ideas, to start doing what needs to be done to bring about a better world.

Gael o/c int;    talking to man at WH; on phone; Code Pink in Iraq; Gael and riot cops; on stage; Billionaires; singing with young girl; Gael and WH

01:25:43   Gael:  when 9/11 happened, it really shifted me. I think it made me spring to the realization that I am a full fledged citizen in this country, and I have a real responsibility for what this country does and vis-à-vis the rest of the world.  And that given what I have seen in my work over time, what the negative impacts of the kind of power that we wield in the world, it was necessary for me to take up that responsibility. And so I never felt more American and more activist in my US citizenship than I felt after 9/11

M21 Continues

Gael at memorial.  Jim on cap steps here.

01:26:38   For activists and courageous public servants dissent comes with a price tag… some risk jail, some the loss of their jobs or reputations… but without these sacrifices, we all lose democracy.

M21- “Ballad of Jim Moran” ends 01:26:57

Act 4

twin towers rubble; firemen at ground zero; John Bruhns o/c interview

01:26:58   JOHN: After 9/11 I had a good friend of mine killed in the WTC, we went to college together, and I wanted to respond.  I wanted to fight against the people I believe attacked the United States, Al Qaeda and the Taliban.   I felt like I needed to answer a call to duty, a duty to defend my country.

M22 – “Call to Duty” begins 01:26:58

Camilo Mejia in uniform & o/c int. 

CAMILO: I just saw it as a good opportunity to get away from home and get a new start and you know, move from there.  And for the most part, it worked.  You know the military became sort of a family for me—I made lots of friends and I never questioned for one minute the goodness of the institution. 

Sue Niederer w/ framed photo Seth & girl; Sue o/c in car

01:27:50  SUE: Seth is a very brilliant young man, has a very high IQ, and I was a single parent so Seth was looking at a multitude of ways to possibly pay for college…and the recruiter called him, he went and spoke with him and they were offering Seth the world.

John in Fatigues w/ soldiers behind him

01:28:11 These three young men answered the call to serve and went to Iraq.

Camilo w/ 2 soldiers in Iraq posing;  Camilo o/c

CAMILO:  As a soldier in the Middle East, I did not believe that there was actually going to be a full blown invasion and occupation.  And now that I think about it, I ask myself how could you have been so blind? 

M22 – “Call to Duty” ends 01:28:20 fades into.  M23 – “Iraq 1, First Days” begins 01:28:21

War footage… helicopters etc.  shaky cam around jeeps; soldiers on tanks; vechicles in line.

John Bruhns o/c

Tanks roll by

John o/c

01:28:32   JOHN: The first days in Iraq were very confusing.  I’m in southern Iraqi desert, I move in on day one.  And I’m talking to a few of my fellow soldiers, , look it’s 150,000 US troops out here in the middle of the desert, there’s no population for hundreds of miles.  I said, “President Bush and the administration has accused this regime, Saddam and his regime, of these massive stock piles of WMDs, that he’ll use on us, that he can give the terrorists to use on us.”  I said, “Guys, this is his last stand.  We’re invading, we are going to wipe him out, and take over his country.  When would be a better time for him to use these WMDs? Right now.  And that’s when I really started to speculate and have serious doubts on whether or not President Bush either misled us into war or just made an incompetent decision.

 Archive driver POV & vehicle s in Iraq; IED explosion; Camillo o/c apt int

01:29:31    CAMILO: Within a week my squad was ambushed and I hear a whistle.  And I’m thinking in my mind this is early warning – somebody’s announcing our coming and there’s a box in the middle of the road and there’s a wire attached to it going down a slope.  And I’m just thinking to myself ambush and the box explodes in front of the lead vehicle.  And then they start shooting at us from both sides of the road.  Miraculously, we made it out alive and no body was hurt. 

01:30:09  Camillo’s unit had no casualties in those first hours, but the conflict continued unabated; the soldiers were shelled while sleeping, and the next morning the bank they guarded was attacked

Soldiers running

Camilo o/c

Camilo:

So it’s like a 48 hour period of constant attacks.  In an environment like that you’re no longer thinking about what Germany and France have to say about the war and, gee there are huge anti-war rallies or anything or man the UN Security Council didn’t approve of this war.  No you’re just thinking about getting home alive.  You’re just asking yourself, am I going to survive?  Am I going to see my daughter again?

M23—“Iraq 1, first days” ends 01:30:52

Stills:  Seth & Sue; Seth in uniform

01:30:55   Sue Niederer’s son, Lieutenant Seth Dvorin served with the U.S. Army in Iraq from the summer of 2003 until February 2004.

Sue in car; Seth w/ unit in Iraq

SUE: For the first 6 weeks Seth was doing liaison work which is what Seth would be great in, talking to people, making nice with people, making them understand what our army people were trying to do for them.  And he was happy. 

Sue in car;

01:31:23   Sue: Middle of October his letters changed.  And his letters said, mom I’m not doing the same thing that I’ve been doing.  And I e-mailed him and spoke with him and asked him well what are you doing before.  And he said mom don’t ask me.

Soldiers into building; point guns at Iraqis in street;

John o/c

01:31:42   JOHN: I said to myself and a couple of the guys I was with, did you notice that we’re fighting just the people who live here?  They can’t help that their just in their environment, in the wrong place at the wrong time. And  if something happens in their community and a military commander makes a decision to send in ground troops and go house to house, their totally taken off guard.

M24 – “Iraq 2, Occupying” begins 01:31:38

Soldiers enter home (night vision), push man to ground.

John o/c

Stills:  dishelved homes

JOHN: And the soldiers come in, kick down the door, go in the house, you will open his closets, throw everything out, you’ll flip his mattress And you’ll leave his house a complete and total wreck looking for like I said weapons, intelligence and anti US propaganda.  Now if you do this 2 or 3 nights a week in 2 or 3 different communities these people aren’t feeling liberated, they’re feeling occupied. And I’m not an insurgent sympathizer, but I know that if anybody came into this country and kicked down my front door, they would have to fight me to the death.

M24—“Iraq 2, Occupying” ends 01:32:50

Prisoner of War camp

footage;

Camilo o/c interview; flag waving; Shirt: Arise, Kill, Eat; Button & signs

Abu Ghraib torture stills

01:32:50   CAMILO: Our first mission is in this place called Allason where we’re running this POW camp, and our duties were to keep people on sleep deprivation, like in such a cruel way that it’s even hard to believe that we were doing that. But we were doing it. And I personally wasn’t questioning it. I was questioning it within myself, but I wasn’t telling anybody, we shouldn’t be doing this.  I was very afraid.  This whole rhetoric about with us or against us, or you know, being patriotic, and bringing those responsible for 9/11 to justice does not only work with politicians in Congress, or like the majority of Americans or like public opinion.  You know, it works with the soldiers too…  And you know, when you’re in  a situation like that where everybody’s doing some-thing—for you to just basically be generous about something or just act like a human being and say ‘listen that’s a person you’re kicking, you know, that’s a person you’re keeping awake for 72 hours makes you the bad guy. You’re in an environment where, you know, speaking out for other people’s rights, civil and human rights, makes you, you know, a traitor. 

M25—“Iraq 3, Allason” begins 01:32:51

M25—“Iraq 3, Allason” ends 01:33:23

Soldiers w/ guns; stills:   soldiers look for ieds

01:34:16   For combat soldiers in Iraq… there is often little time to think about the moral implication of their jobs…. From day to day it’s a matter of survival.

soldiers looking for ieds;

sue on porch; explosions

01:34:26  Sue: His mission was every day from the middle of October, they were going out and looking, physically looking for these improvised explosive devices. That was their mission to find them before they exploded.  Now how do you send guys out that are untrained or on-the-job trained to go look and seek these improvised explosive devices when you know they’re remote controlled.  So the minute these guys see them, they’re dead because somebody’s gonna set that off --  they don’t even have an opportunity to turn around and call.

shots being fired; soldiers running; Camilo at monument

01:35:09  Seth, John, and Camilo all began to doubt the wisdom of the war.  While on leave from Iraq, Camilo went AWOL and decided he couldn’t return to combat.  He went to jail instead.

M26 --  “Conscientious Objector” begins 01:35:08

Camilo at monument & o/c;

Still: Camilo w/civilians in Iraq.

Camilo o/c

CAMILO: It was one of the most difficult decisions, perhaps the hardest I have made in my life—to not go back to Iraq.  But at the same time, you know, everybody has a conscience.  And I cannot make my decisions based on other people’s consciences.  You can say that you’re fighting for one another all you want, but at the end of the day, you still don’t belong in Iraq.  At the end of the day, the people who are paying for this war are innocent Iraqis, are innocent soldiers.

M26 Continues

John o/c;

Stills: John w/ burning bldg behind;

John o/c

01:35:54   JOHN:  I was on active duty speaking out against the war right away. The war was wrong, the war was immoral.  I’m proud of my military service, I’m not proud of the Iraq war. I felt demoralized.  I was personally hurt to find out that every reason I was told that I had to go to that country, invade that country, go to war with that country, was false. We were told WMD.  We were told an imminent threat to this country.  We were told about a possible link between Saddam and Al Qaeda or Saddam and the 9/11 attacks.  It seems as if now that doesn’t matter anymore like it’s a moot point.  That bothers me. 

M26 – “Conscientious Objector” ends 01:36:40

Seth photos when came home on leave.

01:36:42  After 6 months in Iraq, Seth Dvorin came home on leave. Two weeks later his mother asked him if he wanted to return.

Sue in car;

Seth stills;

IED explosion

01:36:52   SUE: And he looked me straight in the face and said to me, “I don’t want to go back”.  I said, “OK fine, I’m going to shoot you in your leg, your ass, whatever, you’re out of here.  Let’s go.   I’ll get you out of here, we’ll go to Israel, Canada, whatever you want, we’re out of here”.  He said to me, “Mom, I can’t”.  I said, “what do you mean, you can’t?”  He said. “I have 18 men below me, I’m the officer. I must go back to save my men.  I must bring my men home safely.”

IED Explosion

01:37:24  Three weeks after Seth Dvorin returned to Iraq, he was killed trying to defuse an I.E.D.

M27 – “Ode to Seth” begins 01:37:23

Sue w/ pix of Seth out of uniform

SUE: That’s my favorite picture.   I keep that at all times with me.  That’s Seth.  That big obnoxious, beautiful smile that I spent $5,000 on, worth every penny….That’s Seth, that’s who he is and that’s who I lost (cries).  My buddy, my pal, my right arm. Sorry.  But he meant the world to me, and I lost him for nothing, absolutely, positively nothing.

explosion; soldier feet;

memorial footage;

John o/c interview

01:38:28  JOHN: The hardest experience for me being in Iraq was witnessing the death of fellow soldiers.  That was the most difficult part, was shooting at people and watching people die.

M27 continues

Sue in street demonstration @ Dover Air force base; Still: John with congress members; Camilo walks on stage

01:38:49   John, Camilo and Sue, in Seth’s name, have found their voices and tell their stories to congressional leaders, at peace rallies, to journalists and anyone willing to listen.

Camilo speaking at podium; Camilo o/c &  outside court & being led away

01:39:01   CAMILO: Conscientious Objection is a right that we have protected not only by army regulations but also by the US Constitution.  I’m not a criminal;  and to let other soldiers know who may be against the war, silently and quietly and telling themselves you know I’m doing this because I’m wearing a uniform, that there is an option. That you don’t have to be quiet and that you’re not alone, and I think that’s important to do – you know, even though it meant that I had to go to jail for awhile and put my own physical freedom on the line and be away from my family for a long time.  When you compare going to jail for 9 months to the hell that people in Iraq are living soldiers and civilians, going to jail for 9 months is nothing.

M27 – “Ode to Seth” ends 01:40:01

Seth in uniform; John in uniform; Camilo in uniform; Marching vets; Sue shakes hand w/ injured vet; Camilo at monument

01:40:01  Chant:  (call & answer):

Everywhere we go, everywhere we go… people want to know, people want to know…who we are, who we are…so we tell them, so we tell them. We are the veterans, we are the veterans… the combat veterans, the combat veterans… the decorated veterans, the decorated veterans… the injured veterans, the injured veterans, fighting for justice, fighting for justice… fighting to end war, fighting to end war.

Act 5

Est. pan of monument for event; cutaways from event; Rev. Graylan Hagler at night rally w/ candle in the rain

01:40:47  Graylan:

You look so beautiful, with these lights shining. Unfortunately, it seems that some people are blind to the light.  But you know, we have news, we will never, ever let our light be extinguished.  And we will spread love around the world in spite of all the evil that folk try to do in our name.  It will not be IN OUR NAME! 

There is no M28 music cue.  It was omitted, nx cue is M29.

M29 –“Amazing Grace 1” (humming) begins 01:40:48

Wash Monument at night; Graylan at Memorial

01:41:24 Historical crises always raise up voices to define them… but there have always been people of conviction, who even in times of relative calm, see the injustices in the world and attempt to heal them. Rev. Graylan Hagler is one of those people.

Early Pictures of Graylan (B&W w/ collar)

01:41:40  From his earliest years in ministry this crusader for justice has struggled to live his vision of the Christian gospel.

M29 Continues

Graylan speaking at NACA conference

GRAYLAN: We are going to do what we do best, and that is organize against the greedy profiteers …

Montage of GH at NACA Conference, elderly housing, union action

01:41:54  This has meant setting up banking programs for economically disadvantaged people to buy homes, struggling for peaceful and moral US policies -- building subsidized apartments for the elderly. 

M29 – “Amazing Grace 1” ends 01:42:11

Elderly housing

GRAYLAN: If you look across the street from the church here, we built that senior citizens apartment building across the street. So that’s 69 units of subsidized senior housing, so seniors who were being pushed out of the neighborhood, won’t be pushed out. That’s signs of hope.

M30 “Meet Rev. Hagler” begins 01:42:12

Graylan on steps of Lincoln Memorial

01:42:28  For Graylan Hagler… peace has never been separable from justice…

GH praying, at labor rally, marching

01:42:36    So when war with Iraq loomed on the horizon he did what he has always done, he prayed… he organized… he marched… and he lifted his voice.

M30 – “Meet Rev. Hagler” ends 01:42:49

Capitol and crowd; people looking somber; GH at rally. 

Graylan: They will be sorry on the day that they understood that they woke up the sleeping giant, called the American people.  This sleeping giant called people of goodwill, this sleeping giant of people who move out on faith to make things happen.  Go forward in faith.  Go forward in the spirit of your own sense of power.  You are the people and this is a government of the people, for the people, by the people.  And we will return it to the people.  God bless you.

Mixed crowds marching

01:43:23   In the days leading up to the invasion of Iraq, Reverend Hagler was instrumental in forming two important peace organizations … United for Peace and Justice, and A.N.S.W.E.R.

Graylan leaving church; chori; Graylan shaking hands/hugging people

01:43:37  Graylan Hagler knew that any attempt at peace must begin with establishing equality and justice for people at home.  He asked that we consider that: as long as people are poor or marginalized, they are disenfranchised, and their voices are not heard.

(M31 Omitted for 52:00 version.) 

M32 “Justice” begins 01:43:47

Poor man walks Chicago; chopper fires guns; oil tanks; soldiers & Iraqis

01:49:32  He wondered if there was a connection between a policy attitude that fails to solve poverty at home, with one that is willing to impose suffering on people abroad.  Is the greed that maintains the rich with oil, money, and power the cause of suffering in the United States and Iraq?

Oil tanks

01:44:18  This insight led him to pose hard and very practical questions about the war and the people who started it.

Graylan at microphone; people from event listening to his speech

01:44:26  GRAYLAN: You know one of the things that is almost ironic to me is we’re dealing with 75 billion dollars as a down payment for the war.  Now these were folks who claimed that they didn’t have any money. They didn’t have any money for affordable housing, they didn’t have any money healthcare, and they didn’t have any money for child care and they didn’t have any money for job and career training, and they didn’t have any money for neighborhoods and community but somehow they got money when it comes to  occupying a nation, and destroying human lives in that nation, destroying women and children in that nation who did nothing at all to the American people.  Sisters and brothers, that’s why we’re out here because of the hypocrisy of the nation, the hypocrisy of the nation!

Graylan at rally slowed down

01:45:21  But what happens when power turns a deaf ear to the voices of its most courageous citizens?

People in streets;

Graylan at Labor Rally; 

Graylan on Lincoln Memorial steps

01:45:27  GRAYLAN: Folks say why are we still marching?  Why?  Because we believe in this country.  We believe in it’s values and every thing decent that was taught to us about this country whether it was myth or real.  We believe in it.  We march because we believe there is a future, there is a tomorrow.  We march because we believe that justice can come by the very pounding of our feet against the pavement.  We march because we will never get tired, we will never lie down, we will never go to sleep.  We will continue to chant and shout, no war in Iraq, no war in Iran, no war in Syria.  Bring the troops home, NOW.  Bring the troops home, NOW.  Bring the troops home, NOW. 

M32 Continues

M32 – “Justice” ends 01:46:37

Act 6

Stills: grim reaper; wooden peace sign; protesters

Music

M33 – “Voices of Dissent” begins 01:46:39

Stills

01:46:42  Five years into the war with Iraq… the voices of dissent were still being raised…. but to what avail?

War footage

01:46:52  Despite the fact that public opinion had swung against the war, close to 160 thousand US soldiers were deployed in Iraq.

Camilo Mejia’s daughter running

01:47:03  Throughout their dissent…those opposed to the war asked…Who are we as a people, what do we want for our children?

Camilo with his daughter

01:47:10  Camilo: Since I live in this society and since I have a 5 year old girl, a big driving force behind my activism is wanting a better future for her.

kids at Code Pink mothers day;

Jim Moran o/c;

JIM: If we were worried about our kids, we wouldn’t have gone to war in Iraq, we wouldn’t have blown the credibility that we had around the world.  Now our kids are going to have to regain our credibility around the world and figure out a way not only to provide for our  retirement, but to pay off all the debt, the trillions of dollars of debt we incurred.

store doors;

gas station

Jim Moran o/c

01:47:43  Jim:

I thought we resolved to make this a better world, and now we our own generational needs trump the needs of our children’s and grandchildren’s generation.

M33 Continues

CU Seth Dvorin in uniform

01:47:54  For Seth Dvorin, his future robbed by an illegal war, there will be no children or grandchildren … but his memory remains alive.

Bench; plaque w/ Seth’s name

Sue Nieder o/c in car

SUE: someone came up with the idea, let’s put a bench right where Seth wanted to be married.  It couldn’t have been a more perfect thing for me and for Greg, and for other people.  A lot of other people go there because there are a lot of people who love Seth and think about him.  And maybe he’s ok and saying ‘thanks for putting this here for me.’  Don’t know.  It’s a place for comfort, and comfort’s something my family needs.

M33 – “Voices of Dissent” ends 01:48:45

Flags with distress flag; Brady o/c interview

01:48:50  BRADY: The interests that got us into Iraq are not the interests of the American people at large, and the purpose of dissent is to make sure that the American people have enough information that they can choose to mobilize in a way that makes bad policy politically expensive enough that it won’t happen.

M34 – “Igniting a Flame reprise” begins 01:48:46

B&W civil rights marchers from 60’s & suffragettes 

01:49:13  History reminds us that change for justice has always taken time and sacrifice.

Sometimes it seems that society only values the dissent of the past; civil rights marchers, suffragists and members of the Boston Tea Party are honored in classrooms for their courage and political acumen, while contemporary activists are often labeled “unpatriotic”.

Adele in Congress montage

Adele o/c

01:49:37  Adele: Most people think you can’t fight city hall, and hell yes you can. I think most Americans are not aware that they can walk into the Congress, the Senate building or the House building, and make an appointment with their senators or congress representatives. They work for us.

Code Pink in halls of Cong 

01:50:07   Without dissent there is no debate. Without debate there is no democracy. In a democracy we cannot afford to forget that each voices matters …

M34 Continues

Each character

01:50:24   Adele Welty’s…Brady Kiesling’s…Graylan Hagler’s…John Bruhn’s…Gael Murphy’s…Camilo Mejia’s…Sue Niederer’s…Jim Moran’s…yours, mine…ours.

Marching crowd

01:50:52  In crucial times we must defy fear and find our voices…With no guarantee of success

… but always with hope and the conviction that the cause is just.

Graylan o/c interview; Sarandon and Robbins marching

01:51:04  GRAYLAN: I always remind myself and I remind others that there is an arc in the universe it bends towards justice and we just got to walk there. Walk there singing, walk there dancing, walk their shouting, but we will get there.

M34 – “Igniting a Flame reprise”  ends 01:51:27

Stills & credits

01:51:28 Music & Credits

M35 – Credit music –“Acts of Protest” repeated ends 01:52:00