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