.." the film is also a testament to the sacrifice and perseverance of our soldiers in the face of terror ."

Baghdad ER
Life in an Army hospital in Iraq.
by Victorino Matus
The Weekly Standard


WHEN WATCHING Baghdad ER, it is important to remind yourself that it's been worse. For every soldier instantly killed in combat during the Civil War, two died in the hospital from battlefield injuries. It is also important to put into perspective the number of fatalities suffered by the United States in conflicts over the years: 6,821 killed in Iwo Jima; 7,000 killed in the first twenty minutes at Cold Harbor, Virginia; and 12,731 Union soldiers felled during the battle of Antietam. In fact, at the very outset of Baghdad ER, the producers point out that 90 percent of soldiers wounded in Iraq survive--the highest survival rate in American military history.


Nevertheless, Baghdad ER may be one of the most difficult hours of television you'll ever sit through--and also the most compelling. Because while you will watch in disgust as limbs are discarded and blood fills the screen, you will also be astounded by the courage and the professionalism of the patients and the doctors, nurses, and chaplains who tend to them. There are no reporters visible, no shoving of microphones in people's faces. There are no questions asked. The men and women at the 86th Combat Support Hospital provide their own commentaries. When one sergeant is being treated after a sniper attack, an attending officer asks him if he shot back. "I was a little busy, laying on the ground, crying like a little bitch," he replies. He was hit while distributing candy to Iraqi children.

After dealing with IED victims--by far the grisliest scenes in the film--one doctor comments, "It's just sad. Every day, never ending string of this shit from these assholes with these IEDs." The medical teams try to be optimistic. As Major Martin Harnish, a general surgeon, explains, "I have to think the people in this country will be in a better place for it. I have to believe because it's just otherwise sheer madness."

The hospital, once an exclusive facility for Saddam Hussein's supporters, is now host to both American and Iraqi patients. It is, in the words of Colonel Casper P. Jones III, commander of the 86th CSH, "the tip of the spear for Army medicine in Iraq." He adds that "you can learn about war by walking through this facility." Indeed, the most disturbing scene to watch is when two Iraqi commandos are brought in after an IED explosion. One man's leg has the firmness of jelly below the knee. A doctor probes a gaping wound in his foot and, within minutes, an amputation is performed, on camera.

And still, the doctors, nurses, and members of the medivac units all manage to have a sense of humor, smoke cigars on the roofdeck, and play pick-up basketball--often to get their minds off the traumatic moments of their day.

The patients, too, put on their bravest faces. When Pfc. Chester Keenum is told he is going to Walter Reed to have shrapnel removed from his eye, his reaction is not elation. "Home? I'm here to do my job." (At the end of the film, we learn Pfc. Keenum does in fact return to duty in Iraq, eyesight restored.)

Directors Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill take an unflinching look at death. One victim, whose struggle is powerfully documented, was 21-years-old. But we also see how the medics and the chaplain treat him and others with dignity and respect, all taking part in the administration of last rites or simple prayers for the soldier and his family.

According to the Washington Post, the show's producers were disappointed by the low turnout of uniformed officers at the Washington screening this past week. There was concern that some in the Department of Defense, who had initially given strong backing to this project, might be worried by the graphic nature of the film and how it might send the wrong message. They would be mistaken. Baghdad ER is not for the squeamish. It takes a hard look at the human cost of war. But the film is also a testament to the sacrifice and perseverance of our soldiers in the face of terror. Their story needs to be told.

Baghdad ER premieres Sunday, May 21, 8pm EST, on HBO.

Victorino Matus is an assistant managing editor at The Weekly Standard.






[Iraq][US Armed Forces][86th Combat Support Hospital][Colonel Casper P. Jones III][Walter Reed Hospital][Bagdhad ER][Saddam Hussein]