Film shows Cleland's cause
Disabled vet says Iraq war a tragic error
By DAVID HO
NEW YORK - Max Cleland never wanted to come full circle.
But for the Vietnam veteran and former U.S. senator from Georgia, his recent visits to see American soldiers wounded in Iraq have the feel of history repeating itself.
"This is Vietnam revisited in every way," Cleland, who lost two legs and an arm in a 1968 grenade explosion, said in an interview Wednesday. "I thought I'd never see it again in my lifetime. I thought we'd learned some basic lessons."
Cleland visits troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, the same place where he healed more than three decades ago. He calls the soldiers "the young Max Clelands."
His interactions with them and the families of those killed form the core of the new documentary film, "Strong at the Broken Places."
His story of war, devastating injury, recovery and a life in politics is woven throughout the nearly hourlong film.
"The human loss of this misguided policy in Iraq is excruciating," said Cleland, who is campaigning for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Vietnam veteran Sen. John Kerry. "It's the untold message of war, and one of the reasons I wanted to be involved in telling it was to make sure that people understand the costs involved."
The filmmakers are negotiating with cable networks to broadcast the documentary. Richard Mahoney, the film's producer and director and a former Arizona secretary of state, said he began filming in May 2003. In October, he approached Cleland, whose visits to Walter Reed and life experience transformed the documentary.
"He's a bridge between Vietnam and Iraq," Mahoney said. "The bridge between getting blown apart and putting your life back together in a totally new way because you've got to."
The film paints a parallel between wars past and present during Cleland's conversations with Pvt. Alan Lewis, 24. Lewis' Humvee hit an antitank mine in Iraq on July 16, 2003. He lost his legs.
Cleland and Lewis talk in the film as they sit across from each other, the old soldier in his wheelchair and the young one stretching out new prosthetic legs.
Cleland also visits the family of Spc. Jamaal Addison, the first soldier from Georgia killed in Iraq.
"I'm hoping that this film sheds light on the fact that there were a lot of assumptions and misconceptions regarding the war that led us into this hell," said Addison's father, Kevin, a postal employee from Decatur. "It's gotten worse over time, and there's no sign of it getting better."
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