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Stop-Loss

It is becoming apparent, ever so slowly, that many veterans returning to the US and Canada from duty in Afghanistan and Iraq are suffering multiple traumas and injuries. Suicides are very high.

A searing movie "Stop-Loss" explores the trauma of a group of men returned from Iraq to their hometown in Texas to a triumphant welcome only to find, amongst other things, that their sergeant has been stop-lossed - that is, that the Army can, by law [see how Wikipedia details the practice here] require a serviceman, even though he has completed his tour of duty and is entitled to be discharged, to involuntarily return to Iraq. Some 80,000 servicemen have found themselves in that position.

In a no holds-barred movie the whole gamut of situations are explored including what it is like "on the ground" in Iraq for the men and women fighting there and the Iraqis too. See the movie trailer here.

Meanwhile, the movie ought to be compulsory viewing for the likes of George W, Tony Blair and John Howard - those "leaders" of the Coalition of the Willing - and all those who so very foolishly advocated attacking Iraq.

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