Iraq War veteran and local film maker Casey Porter is is continuing to mine the days of footage he gathered while in Western Asia. His latest short documentary, Fire Mission, is now online, and proves (if it needed proving again) that he’s not the only person in the US armed forces wondering why the US is in Iraq, and questioning what is being sold as standard operating procedures.

Now he’s out of the military with an honorable discharge in hand, Porter has been freer to really work on these videos without the threat of official censure or censorship. But, as he explained in an email this morning, this one reaches a particular landmark for him: “In all the films I’ve made, I always wanted to be in one place: The Blue Box [at] the top section of Michael Moore‘s site.” Well, objective achieved.

This article appears in July 17 • 2009.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.