Will They Ever Trust Us Again?: Letters from the War Zone to Michael Moore (Paperback)

One of my favourite books is by the author Malcolm Brown. He wrote five or six books on WWI, one being the Imperial war Museum Book of the Western Front. In that particular book, he uses letters from the troops to describe the pointlessness of WWI and the death and fighting faced by the opposing forces at close range. Often he just published their letters with comments. In many cases the soldiers make negative comments about their leaders, especially the military leaders. Nobody would say Brown is a nut, he is considered to be a good writer.

Well we have a similar situation here but less graphic than the movie Saving Private Ryan or a Brown book. I have gone through this new Moore book and some of the ideas are similar to Brown and others from prior wars. But in the modern era we do not have to sift through the old letters sent home by the troops. Michael Moore has received what must be thousands of e-mails. Some of these come from the troops especially in Iraq. He has taken a hundred or so of the most interesting, and without much input or writing he has put together a 200 page book of e-mails mostly from the troops. Each one is a page or two long, but mostly he has selected those that are two pages. Each e-mail has the return e-mail address of the senders plus some other information. At the back he has a list of agencies that help the troops and others with relief work.

Technically speaking Moore is not writing the book, but rather he is gathering and editing these "short stories" as a coherent collection mostly written by the troops. So the views and stories are not those of Moore, per se, but rather he is a vehicle for wider distribution and publication. Of course many of the e-mails are in general sympathy with his anti-war views. They are dated from approximately March 2004 through to July 2004, and are mostly from active soldiers, or those who have recently returned home, or from parents.

So the book is interesting because it is a collection of views from people in the military and what they think of the conflict. Not just one or two complainers, but over 100 letters or mini-stories. There is neither a major editing or spin. It is just their views.

4 stars.

Adding to the letters in Moore's books, I'd like to add another one from a mother:

"RESPONSE TO ARTICLE FROM TERI WILLS ALLISON, MOTHER OF ARMY INFANTRYMAN SERVING IN IRAQ

"I am the mother of identical 22-year-old twins, both members of the Mississippi Army National Guard. Both have been activated in the same unit for training here in Mississippi and for deployment to Iraq in January.

"I read Ms. Allison's comments and, finally, was able to identify with someone in this alternate universe I suddenly find myself residing in. I also feel her frustration, her fear, her all-encompassing anxiety and most of all her overriding anger.

"Like Ms. Allison, I can no longer seem to communicate at all with my family's members, all of whom are also right-wing, religious, knee-jerk supporters of Bush. When they vaguely ask me how my sons are doing, I just as vaguely reply fine. I really have no one other than my husband to express my feelings to. Living in Mississippi precludes most thoughtful discussion of the war, the President or any other topic relating to this Administration.

"My anger at this President has become so intense that I can no longer watch him on television or listen to him on NPR; I literally become physically ill. I recently e-mailed the White House to ask the President to do a little soul-searching late at night away from distraction by advisers, campaign staff, etc. I asked him to then ask himself if he thought this war was worth the sacrifice of his twins, because I sincerely felt that it was not worth the sacrifice of mine." --Priscilla Ammerman, published in The Nation

This book is a direct result of his fame. Everyone who disagrees with the president (quite a few at the moment) feels that through Moore their discontentment can easily be released. When soldiers started writing to Moore from Afghanistan and Iraq, the concept was clear. People need to know about this, so compile the letters and call it a book.

The book consists of four different parts. First soldiers writing about what is wrong with the war. Secondly more soldiers, just not those in Iraq but elsewhere on the planet. Then letters from veterans from former wars and finally the ones close to the soldiers give us their opinions.

I’m afraid the book wasn’t everything I expected. Okay, so I got confirmation of the fact that most soldiers do not support the case they are fighting for. Apart from that it seems that the impression that not even the US army has any idea why they are in Iraq is correct.

I was already halfway into the book, when I finally read the first letter that actually touched me. “Death in Iraq has a face” by Margaret Reimer. The subject says a lot: “President Bush killed my student today”. She tells Moore about her former student who went to Iraq. His wife is still a student of her. Very touchingly she describes how she got to know the couple and how much his death affects her life. Only a few more letters like this have made it into the final edit of this book.

Interesting book. As often before, I am still wondering why some people seem to think that violence can be a solution for problems.