Why Phil Donahue made Body Of War

By Gilbert Cruz
Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008
Long-time talk show host Phil Donahue wants America to take a long look at what the Iraq War is doing to its young men and women. Body of War, which Donahue produced and co-directed with Ellen Spiro, and which airs tonight on the Sundance Channel in honor of Veterans Day, tells the story of Tomas Young, a formerly gung-ho soldier who was paralyzed after less than a week in Iraq. Donahue spoke with TIME about getting kicked off MSNBC, why Iraq war movies are not a draw, and the death of the word "liberal."

How did you come across the story of Tomas Young?

I was invited to visit Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] by Ralph Nader. I had been on the Nader bus in 2000. And after the 2004 election, Nader said, "A mother at Walter Reed has asked to see me. Do you wanna go?" I said yes immediately. I'd never been to America's most famous military hospital, so off we went. And here is this young man. 24 years old. Very thin. His cheekbones stuck out. He was totally whacked out on morphine. And his mother explained his injury to me. He was in Sadr City, in an uncovered truck, when a bullet entered his shoulder from above. How it didn't hit a major artery, I'll never know. And now Tomas is paralyzed from the nipples down. Tomas can't walk. Tomas can't cough. Tomas throws up every morning.

You get a sense of the domino effect here. You put a bullet through a man's spine, all kinds of things happen. Tomas has bowel and bladder issues. Tomas has erectile dysfunction—28 years old, in the prime of his life. What we're saying with this film is that what you see with Tomas is a drama taking place behind the closed doors of thousands of homes in this country. Thousands. We're trying to show the reality of this war, which is the most sanitized war in our lifetime.
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http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1857979,00.html