WEBVTT 00:00:01.741 --> 00:00:04.992 I try hard to be proud of my service 00:00:04.992 --> 00:00:07.755 but all I could feel is shame 00:00:07.755 --> 00:00:09.329 the racism can no longer mask 00:00:09.329 --> 00:00:10.832 the reality of this occupation. 00:00:10.832 --> 00:00:13.237 These were people, these were human beings 00:00:13.237 --> 00:00:16.412 I since been hit by guilt anytime I see an elderly man 00:00:16.412 --> 00:00:18.084 like the one who couldn't walk 00:00:18.084 --> 00:00:19.760 and we rolled onto a stretcher 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:21.896 and called the Iraqui police to take him away 00:00:21.896 --> 00:00:24.468 I feel guilt anytime I see a mother with her children 00:00:24.468 --> 00:00:26.373 like the one who cried hysterically 00:00:26.373 --> 00:00:28.078 screaming that we are worse than Saddam 00:00:28.078 --> 00:00:30.083 as we forced them from their home 00:00:30.083 --> 00:00:32.724 I feel guilt anytime I see a young girl 00:00:32.724 --> 00:00:34.662 like the one I grabbed by the arm 00:00:34.662 --> 00:00:37.069 and dragged to the street 00:00:37.069 --> 00:00:39.409 We were told we were fighting terrorists 00:00:39.409 --> 00:00:41.114 the real terrorist was me 00:00:41.114 --> 00:00:44.297 and the real terrorism is this occupation 00:00:44.297 --> 00:00:46.556 Racism within the military has bee a long 00:00:46.556 --> 00:00:48.268 and important tool to justify 00:00:48.268 --> 00:00:50.828 the destruction and occupation of another country 00:00:50.828 --> 00:00:52.813 Is long been used to justify the killings 00:00:52.813 --> 00:00:55.658 subjugation and torture of another people 00:00:55.658 --> 00:00:58.909 Racism is the vital weapon employed by this government 00:00:58.909 --> 00:01:00.968 It's more important weapon then a rifle 00:01:00.968 --> 00:01:03.943 a tank, a bomber or a battleship 00:01:03.943 --> 00:01:06.154 It's more destructive than artillery shells 00:01:06.154 --> 00:01:07.553 or a bunker buster 00:01:07.553 --> 00:01:09.425 or a Tomahawk missile 00:01:09.425 --> 00:01:10.686 While those weapons are created 00:01:10.686 --> 00:01:12.333 and owned by this government 00:01:12.333 --> 00:01:13.305 they are harmless 00:01:13.305 --> 00:01:14.840 without people willing to use them 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:16.348 Those who send us to war 00:01:16.348 --> 00:01:17.551 do not pull a trigger 00:01:17.551 --> 00:01:19.220 or lob a mortar round 00:01:19.220 --> 00:01:20.689 They do not have to fight the war 00:01:20.689 --> 00:01:22.896 they merely need to sell the war 00:01:22.896 --> 00:01:24.265 they need a public who is willing 00:01:24.265 --> 00:01:25.971 to send their soldiers in the harm's way 00:01:25.971 --> 00:01:28.044 they need soldiers willing to kill or be killed 00:01:28.044 --> 00:01:29.699 without questions 00:01:29.699 --> 00:01:31.696 they can spend billions on a single bomb 00:01:31.696 --> 00:01:33.492 but that bomb only becomes a weapon 00:01:33.492 --> 00:01:35.364 when the the ranks in the military are willing 00:01:35.364 --> 00:01:37.268 to follow orders to use it 00:01:37.268 --> 00:01:39.776 They can send every last soldier anywhere on Earth 00:01:39.776 --> 00:01:43.027 but there will only be a war when soldiers are willing to fight 00:01:43.027 --> 00:01:45.158 And the ruling class, the billionaires 00:01:45.158 --> 00:01:47.114 who profit from human suffering 00:01:47.114 --> 00:01:49.111 who care only about expanding their wealth 00:01:49.111 --> 00:01:51.107 and controlling the world economy, 00:01:51.107 --> 00:01:52.377 understand that their power lies 00:01:52.377 --> 00:01:55.218 only in their ability to convince us that war, 00:01:55.218 --> 00:01:58.259 oppression, and exploitation are in our interest. 00:01:58.259 --> 00:01:59.606 They understand that their wealth is dependent 00:01:59.606 --> 00:02:04.343 on their ability to convince the working class to die 00:02:04.343 --> 00:02:07.036 to control the market of another country. 00:02:07.036 --> 00:02:09.033 And convincing us to kill and die 00:02:09.033 --> 00:02:11.063 is based on their ability to make us think 00:02:11.063 --> 00:02:14.038 that we are somehow superior. 00:02:14.038 --> 00:02:17.532 Soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen 00:02:17.532 --> 00:02:20.021 have nothing to gain from this occupation 00:02:20.021 --> 00:02:22.362 the vast majority people living in the US 00:02:22.362 --> 00:02:24.467 have nothing to gain from this occupation 00:02:24.467 --> 00:02:27.284 In fact not only do we have nothing to gain 00:02:27.284 --> 00:02:29.548 but we suffer more because of it 00:02:29.548 --> 00:02:31.696 We lose limbs, endure trauma, 00:02:31.696 --> 00:02:33.324 and give our lives. 00:02:33.324 --> 00:02:34.934 Our families have to watch flag-draped coffins 00:02:34.934 --> 00:02:36.498 lowered into the earth. 00:02:36.498 --> 00:02:38.672 Millions in this country without health care, 00:02:38.672 --> 00:02:40.644 jobs, or access to education, 00:02:40.644 --> 00:02:42.516 have watched this government squander of a 00:02:42.516 --> 00:02:56.030 450 million dollars a day on this occupation 00:02:56.030 --> 00:02:58.260 Poor and working people in this country 00:02:58.260 --> 00:03:01.067 are send to kill poor and working people in another country, 00:03:01.067 --> 00:03:02.442 to make the rich richer 00:03:02.442 --> 00:03:04.945 and without racism, soldiers would realize 00:03:04.945 --> 00:03:07.362 that they have more in common with the Iraqi people 00:03:07.362 --> 00:03:25.061 than they do with the billionaires who send us to war 00:03:27.261 --> 00:03:30.293 I threw families onto the street in Iraq 00:03:30.293 --> 00:03:33.257 only to come home and find families thrown onto the street 00:03:33.257 --> 00:03:36.108 in this country, and it's a tragic 00:03:36.108 --> 00:03:39.073 and unnecessary foreclosure crisis 00:03:39.073 --> 00:03:41.681 We need to wake up and realize that our real enemies 00:03:41.681 --> 00:03:43.385 are not in some distant land 00:03:43.385 --> 00:03:45.443 they're not people whose names we don't know 00:03:45.443 --> 00:03:47.439 and cultures we don't understand 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:49.111 The enemy is people we know very well 00:03:49.111 --> 00:03:50.597 and people we can identify 00:03:50.597 --> 00:03:53.345 The enemy is a system that wages war when it's profitable 00:03:53.345 --> 00:03:55.685 The enemy is the CEO's who lay us off from our jobs 00:03:55.685 --> 00:03:57.022 when it's profitable 00:03:57.022 --> 00:04:00.025 it's the insurance companies who deny us health care when it's profitable 00:04:00.025 --> 00:04:02.805 it's the banks who take away our homes when it's profitable 00:04:02.805 --> 00:04:05.505 Our enemy is not five thousand miles away 00:04:05.505 --> 00:04:06.950 they are right here at home 00:04:06.950 --> 00:04:09.490 When we organize, and fight with our sisters and brothers 00:04:09.490 --> 00:04:12.265 we can stop this war, we can stop this government 00:04:12.265 --> 00:04:20.821 and we can create a better world