Rendition

IF THE WAR WERE A TV SHOW, IT WOULD BE CANCELLED is a pretty sad commentary . Recently the Pew Research Center conducted a poll that asked Americans to estimate how many soldiers had died in Iraq after all this time. Only 28% got anywhere close. Only 6% of Americans say they are even following the war.

This is a sad fact and only going to get worse. People don't have any investment: Americans have not been asked in any way to make any sacrifices. Although my practical mind says that at some point we have to pay the piper; still, sharper minds than mine have said that we can continue to fund the war indefinitely as it is a small part of the gross national product/expense. My interest, however, is in the moral and spiritual toll the war has taken and this will only grow.

To say that we are in a disconnect is way beyond the pale. We have an absolute plethora of books and movies written and made from every conceivable viewpoint of the war. Guess what? The movies go unwatched and the books unread.

A movie like Rendition with top stars and a compelling story of "what ifs" almost went straight to video. It is a story of innocents going to foreign prisons, one in particular; and the powers that be simply willing to indict a scapegoat. Bureaucrats considering career before lives and surely before honor.

The movie had some of the best lines and scenes that I've ever heard or seen. Reece Witherspoon, the distraught wife says to the "witch" of a bureaucrat, "I only want to find my husband." The witch lying through her teeth: I wish I could help you my dear. A Senator's aide, trying, but then realizing that there's nowhere else to go. He has two choices: believe the government or trust his instincts. The government sadly wins through lies.

Rendition, at least, reaches out and gives conscience a chance. Jake Gyllenhaal, a green CIA agent, who is smarter than he looks and gets it. The government says, "We don't torture." He says, "I'm looking at torture." Good for him. Atta boy.

We can at least sacrifice something by supporting Iraq war veterans. Two have started their own music label, To The Fallen Records which has already released three CDs. I am ordering them and encourage all to do the same-a small thing we can do.