US 'suburbs more violent than Iraq'

[John McKenna]

Is Iraq doing that bad after all, considering everything they have
been through?

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599...0-1702,00.html

US 'suburbs more violent than Iraq'

By Jonathon Moran
November 07, 2006 02:32pm


MORE fighting goes on in parts of suburban US than Iraq, according to Australian filmmaker George Gittoes who has just finished a documentary set in a Miami "war zone".

Gittoes' latest feature, Rampage, contrasts life for a family living in the blue-collar community of Brown Sub, Miami, with ongoing fighting in Iraq.

"It is much worse in Miami than it is in Baghdad," Gittoes said in Sydney today.

"There is a sense of people with guns, drug dealers lairing at you ... and being there, I knew I was in a war zone."

Rampage is the second in Gittoes trilogy of documentaries based on the war in Iraq.

It follows the success of 2004s Soundtrack to War, which depicted American soldiers and their music in Iraq.

The film will be released in cinemas around the world and Gittoes is expecting plenty of controversy.

"Even left-wing Americans ... don't want to recognise the mess they've got in their own backyard," he said.

Gittoes has spent much of his career travelling the world, painting, filming and photographing wars in places such as Rwanda, Afghanistan, and East Timor.

"To me, this was just another war zone and it was in America," he said.

Gittoes said there were similar stories to Rampage in Australia's indigenous communities, although he said the task of translating that on the big screen would be difficult.

"The film that I'd like to make in Australia I couldn't make," he said.

"All of our politically correct laws and things wouldn't let someone like me make a film like this in an Aboriginal community in Australia."

The final film in the trilogy, Fearless, and will examine the impact of the Iraq war on the American soldiers who have fought there.

"It is about the difficulty of exit and how much the soldiers have changed and become hardened warriors and how much the people they're fighting have changed as well," he said.

Rampage opens nationally on November 30.

[lkrausz]

Just how many soldiers died in your area today?

[John McKenna]

I am not trying to down grade the killing of U.S. troops.

But this article brings to light the comparison that in some of
our own U.S. cities we have mini-war zones that have open killings
on a daily basis, just like Iraq. Real people are dying daily.

In that regard, Iraq is in a struggle to find its footings for
peace in a terrible time. But, it is not beyond the scope
of reason to understand that this is to be expected in a
country that has just gone through a war. Anyone who thinks
that you can invade a country and have instant peace is
simply out of touch with reality.

So in that light, Iraq is still a war zone but not beyond some
of the war zones we have here in some U.S. cities. So I feel
there is hope and things are not beyond repair.

Is the glass half full or half empty. That is my point.
Things are not beyond repair if you are looking for repair.

The situation is bad, but not as bad as it would be if we pulled out.
Our own cities have some really bad areas of conflict, but
we do not pull out. It will take time to finish the job we started
in Iraq. Their government is just birthing, so its not the right
time to leave them to fall. Our troops should not have to
die in vain. There are many Generals who agree with Bush and we
do not hear the reports all of those who see victory instead of
defeat. We have not been defeated, we won the war. But
the clean up takes time.

To cut and run would give the Terrorist encouragement that
the U.S. could be defeated via the T.V. set in everyone's home.
It would confirm that we have no will to finish a fight once
we start. Our position in the world would get harder not easier.

BTW... good news... I recently saw a report that a new kind of
vehicle is being shipped to our troops in Iraq. It can withstand
the road side bombs that have killed so many of our troops. It will
lower the rate of U.S. casualties in a huge way. We are going
to see better days as we learn to adapt and overcome.

May God bless every U.S. Military person in Iraq and around the globe.
I pray that everyone will stand behind our troops and I feel we all do.
War is hell and I hope it ends soon.

[Justin Watts]

I don't think anywhere can be as scary as Iraq.....

But, I do get "nervous" driving thru some ghetto parts of Los Angeles... gang infested neighborhoods.. feel like 3rd world countries... and I think there is great risk going into neighborhoods in hawthorne, inglewood, compton, and parts of Long beach....

If you are in these areas at night.... you are really taking your chances. And yes, I know that Detroit and Atlanta are even worse!