A few emotional thoughts on the fate of the USA and recent events.

In military terminology, inner lines are escape routes which are located near opposing lines. They provide a way of passing undetected and fleeing. Around Mount Ararat, in Turkey and Armenia, messengers and their carrier pigeons travel along these parallel paths to meet up with communities in the grip of war. During their wanderings, they encounter Yezidis who have fled from the atrocities committed by Daesh and found refuge in transit camps in Turkey. They stand beside the last living survivors of the Armenian genocide. They travel around war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh, to accompany and support the bereaved families there. Throughout the story, men and women bear witness to what they have endured, to their shattered lives, to life, fighting off death. Above all, their words tell a tale of violence inflicted by men on other men, a violence that seems everlasting and obstinate.

The story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war. Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed) takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq. “Iraq for Sale” uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq (Blackwater, Halliburton/KBR, CACI and Titan) and the decision makers who allow them to do so.

In March 2006, Code Pink invited eight Iraqi Women to the U.S. to speak about their experiences under the U.S. invasion and occupation. They were doctors, engineers, professors, and journalists. Two of the women had their entire families killed by U.S. troops. They were denied visas to enter the U.S. on the grounds that they did not have sufficient family to guarantee they would return to Iraq. The six women who were given visas travelled separately to dozens of cities throughout the U.S., speaking with community groups, churches, veterans, and the families of active duty GIs.