…the almost right word

Sir! No Sir! directed by David Zeiger — Erase from your mind whatever thought you have when I say the words, “war documentary.” This is not your typical war documentary. Sir! No Sir! tells the story of GI’s during Vietnam who eventually realized they were fighting an amoral war. The film was released in 2005 at the Los Angeles Film Festival. It is comprised of interviews and historical footage. It follows GI morale: from the beginning of Vietnam, in which participants were hesitant, to the eventual protests that overwhelmed the country, including over 500,000 incidents of desertion in the U.S. military (between 1966 and 1971). Eventually, the GI anti-war movement made the fight in Vietnam virtually impossible, which, in turn, led President Nixon to the concept of “Vietnamization” — the ground fighting was left to the South Vietnamese troops, limiting US involvement.  

As a result, the presence of U.S. soldiers at the border was denied, leaving these soldiers to fend for themselves. When six of these soldiers were ordered to go on what was effectively a suicide mission, they refused and instead decided to send a message to the home front. Nixon responded to this by pulling that company out, but then other companies started to stop fighting as well. Some officers were killed by their own men. 

The film is now part of the Iraq Media Action Project film collection, and extras on the DVD include an introduction by Jane Fonda, who was well-known for her activism during Vietnam and her participation in
the FTA Tour (an anti-war road show named “Free The Army”, a play on the troop expression “Fuck The Army”). In this introduction, Fonda mentions how surreal it is to be experiencing yet another unwanted and unwarranted war (Iraq) in which our troops are blatantly disregarded, as is the general opinion of the American public. 

I knew very little of the GI anti-war movement that took place during Vietnam. Having learned how far their opposition extended, I begin to wonder if the present GI population is also engaging in such opposition. Sir! No Sir! is currently being distributed to GIs in Iraq courtesy of Iraq Veterans Against the War — an organization founded in 2004 which includes over 1,200 members in 48 states. We may not see it in the headlines everyday, but there is opposition among the soldiers in Iraq. If we continue on this path, Iraq may be another Vietnam — another part of US history in which we occupy a country for nearly a decade, killing innocent people day after day after day.