"I felt like the country shifted away from me, and that I wasn’t shifting with it"

This post is a take on the movement of one American (emblematic of many) away from his country.  I read an article (1/29/09) from the Santa Barbara Independent, reporting after a film screening of an oil-company-employee-turned-documentary-filmmaker.  Mark Manning tells of how he became frustrated with our nation and its actions and set out to make a film (Road to Fallujah) about exactly what was happening-- an effort to try to humanize the "enemy."  I think this is a strongly felt sensation since of the US invasion and war on Iraq.

After the screening, the audience was connected via live video feed to Iraqi citizens.  This dialogue between the two people was an effort by Manning so that "[People could] get in touch with the suffering that war causes. For most Americans [in the audience on Tuesday], that was probably the first time they’ve actually met people who have been on the receiving end of our military action. It’s not a joyful kumbaya experience, but it’s real. I think that once you start that process of humanizing the other side you create a connection that is really hard to break.”

After reading Laura's piece about how the conclusion of this conflict will go, I thought about the US's role, and after reading this article, about how the American people will react.  How will our relations to Iraqis change?  What sort of ending to the conflict will we demand?  Will complacency prevail?  How might this affect our role as citizens in future military decision-making?