Winning the Peace

Running time: 18 mins

On June 14th, 2003, The New York Times ran a photograph on its front page of an American soldier kneeling and embracing one of his fellow men. Upon reading the caption, the reader discovers the cause of the soldier?s anguish: Iraqi children have been maimed by unexploded battlefield ordinance. This image of war in the 21st Century begs for a back story. Beyond the immediate tragedy of the destruction of innocent lives, the events that produced this image had to reflect something fundamental about this particular war, for both the men in the photo and for us, their fellow Americans.

In our story the weeping man is Lieutenant Charlie Latif, a proud member of America?s peacekeeping mission in Iraq. But this war has a much deeper meaning for Charlie. As the soldiers patrol a small village, an embedded reporter learns that Charlie is the son of Iraqi immigrants exiled from their homeland by Sadaam Hussein?s regime. Charlie is not just a professional soldier ?doing a job,' he is on a personal crusade to redeem his place of birth.

As Charlie struggles to fight a just war in Iraq, his son Jordan competes in a youth league championship game in idyllic suburban America. Jordan plays with an unmatched ferocity and scores the winning goal. But the jubilation of his victory is cut short. The image of his weeping father runs on the evening news and for the first time Jordan and his mother must confront the reality of Charlie?s tragic bind.