The Soldiers

On the cusp of the five-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, veterans groups from around the nation organized a series of panels and testimonials about the events of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They called these four days of events "Winter Soldier".

These discussions were not open to the general public, but were recorded and broadcast to a wide audience. The topics covered included the devastation of Iraq, the influence of corporate military contractors, racism in war, the crisis in veterans' health care, and much more.

You can watch video of the panels at the Iraq Veterans Against the War website, but right now their site is overwhelmed with traffic. You can listen to audio recordings of the events via WarComesHome.org, and you can read a "liveblog" account of Winter Soldier at the IVAW site here. This weekend also saw one of the first public screenings of the documentary Body of War.

Body of War is an intimate and transformational feature documentary about the true face of war today. Meet Tomas Young, 25 years old, paralyzed from a bullet to his spine — wounded after serving in Iraq for less than a week.

Body of War is Tomas’ coming home story as he evolves into a new person, coming to terms with his disability and finding his own unique and passionate voice against the war. The film is produced and directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, and features two original songs by Eddie Vedder. Body of War is a naked and honest portrayal of what it’s like inside the body, heart and soul of this extraordinary and heroic young man.

The movie is still in limited release, so check their website for showtime information.

The film also has a related soundtrack, of songs picked out by Tomas Young, which includes tracks by Axis founders Serj Tankian and Tom Morello, as well as many artists regularly featured on the Axis of Justice radio show: Bruce Springsteen, Public Enemy, Michael Franti, John Lennon, Ben Harper, Bad Religion, Against Me!, Immortal Technique, Pearl Jam, Bright Eyes, and many more. The album will be released March 18 in stores and on iTunes.

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