Mike arrested in 2007 manifestationI tried hard to be proud of my service
but all I could feel was shame
The racism can no longer master the reality of the occupation
these were people these are human beings
I’ve since been plagued by guilt anytime i see
an eldery man like the one who couldn’t walk
who we rolled onto a stretcher and told the Iraqi Police to take him away
I feel guilt anytime I see a mother with her children like the one who cried hystericaly
and screamed that we are worst than Saddam, as we forced her from her home.
I feel guilt anytime I see a young girl, like the one I grabbed by the arm, and dragged into the street.
We are told we are fighting terrorists;
the real terrorist was me and the real terrorism is this occupation.
Racism within the military has long been an important tool
to justify the destruction and occupation of another country.
It’s long been used to justify the killing, subjugation and torture of another people.
Racism is a vital weapon employed by this government.
It’s a more important weapon than a rifle, a tank, a bomber or a battleship.
It’s more destructive than an artillery shell or a bunker buster, or a Tomahawk Missile.
While all 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 have to pull a trigger, or lob a mortar round.
They do not have to fight the war, they merely have to sell the war.
They need a public who is willing to send their soldiers in the harms way.
They need soldiers who are willing to kill and be killed without question.
They can spend millions on a single bomb, but that bomb only becomes a weapon,
when the ranks of the military are willing to follow orders to use it.
They can send every last soldier anywhere on earth,
but there’ll only be a war, if soldiers are willing to fight.
And the ruling class, the billionaires who profit from human suffering
care only about expending their wealth controlling the world economy.
Understand that their power lies only in their ability
to convince us that war, oppression and exploitation is 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 of people living in the U.S. 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,
just watch this government squander over $ 450 million a day on this occupation.
Poor and working people in this country are sent to kill poor and working people in other country
to make the rich richer.
Without racism soldiers would realize that we have more in common with the Iraqi people than we do with billionaires that 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 in this tragic, tragic, 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 CEOs who lay us off 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 enemies are not five thousands miles away
they are right here at home
but if 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
