Going Upriver

"Going Upriver" is well worth a watch: if for nothing else, to provide a reality check about the horrors of war. The movie provides further documentation on reality of Kerry's (and other Veterans') experience on the swiftboats and other arenas of Vietnam. Kerry's clear and consistent rationale for protesting, his solidarity with the soldiers and Vets, and the stakes of his decision to march against the war (many considered it political suicide for a man who was thought to be destined for a political career) were crystal-clear from the speech clips and interviews in the film.

On the other hand, the similarity of language describing Vietnam and Iraq, from recorded clips from the early part of the Vietnam War, was disturbing. "Bringing democracy to Vietnam" and "working with the people" so quickly became a war against the civilians, even in the South. The movie's transcription from Nixon tapes (Nixon ran a smear campaign against Kerry because of his popularity after the Vet protests) also showed that the attacks against Kerry haven't really changed much at all over the years. It's time we put Bush where he truly deserves to be - in the halls of impeachment with "tricky Dick".