I try hard to be proud of my service

but all I could feel is shame

the racism can no longer mask

the reality of this occupation.

These were people, these were human beings

I since been hit by guilt anytime I see an elderly man

like the one who couldn't walk

and we rolled onto a stretcher

and called the Iraqui police to take him away

I feel guilt anytime I see a mother with her children

like the one who cried hysterically

screaming that we are worse than Saddam

as we forced them from their home

I feel guilt anytime I see a young girl

like the one I grabbed by the arm

and dragged to the street

We were told we were fighting terrorists

the real terrorist was me

and the real terrorism is this occupation

Racism within the military has bee a long

and important tool to justify

the destruction and occupation of another country

Is long been used to justify the killings

subjugation and torture of another people

Racism is the vital weapon employed by this government

It's more important weapon then a rifle

a tank, a bomber or a battleship

It's more destructive than artillery shells

or a bunker buster

or a Tomahawk missile

While those weapons are created

and owned by this government

they are harmless

without people willing to use them

Those who send us to war

do not pull a trigger

or lob a mortar round

They do not have to fight the war

they merely need to sell the war

they need a public who is willing

to send their soldiers in the harm's way

they need soldiers willing to kill or be killed

without questions

they can spend billions on a single bomb

but that bomb only becomes a weapon

when the the ranks in the military are willing

to follow orders to use it

They can send every last soldier anywhere on Earth

but there will only be a war when soldiers are willing to fight

And the ruling class, the billionaires

who profit from human suffering

who care only about expanding their wealth

and controlling the world economy,

understand that their power lies

only in their ability to convince us that war,

oppression, and exploitation are in our interest.

They understand that their wealth is dependent

on their ability to convince the working class to die

to control the market of another country.

And convincing us to kill and die

is based on their ability to make us think

that we are somehow superior.

Soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen

have nothing to gain from this occupation

the vast majority people living in the US

have nothing to gain from this occupation

In fact not only do we have nothing to gain

but we suffer more because of it

We lose limbs, endure trauma,

and give our lives.

Our families have to watch flag-draped coffins

lowered into the earth.

Millions in this country without health care,

jobs, or access to education,

have watched this government squander of a

450 million dollars a day on this occupation

Poor and working people in this country

are send to kill poor and working people in another country,

to make the rich richer

and without racism, soldiers would realize

that they have more in common with the Iraqi people

than they do with the billionaires who send us to war

I threw families onto the street in Iraq

only to come home and find families thrown onto the street

in this country, and it's a tragic

and unnecessary foreclosure crisis

We need to wake up and realize that our real enemies

are not in some distant land

they're not people whose names we don't know

and cultures we don't understand

The enemy is people we know very well

and people we can identify

The enemy is a system that wages war when it's profitable

The enemy is the CEO's who lay us off from our jobs

when it's profitable

it's the insurance companies who deny us health care when it's profitable

it's the banks who take away our homes when it's profitable

Our enemy is not five thousand miles away

they are right here at home

When we organize, and fight with our sisters and brothers

we can stop this war, we can stop this government

and we can create a better world