It’s a day of remembrance, a day to honor those brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives that we might live with freedom and hope and dreams of a better future.
The soldiers of WWII were giving their all to defeat fascism and genocide. There was honor and glory in that. It needed to be done and they did it. The world is a better place for it.
Then, war became a way of life for America. A very profitable way of life. It was so profitable that they instituted the draft, ripping young men from their lives, forcing them to serve in the military. They said it was their duty. They were supposed to be proud to be defending their country and we were supposed to be proud of them.
But, it was hard to be proud of men who walked into small villages in Vietnam leaving piles of lifeless bodies behind them. Corpses of children, women and old people who were just going about their daily lives before they were gunned down in the name of freedom.
It was hard to be proud of pilots who dumped liquid fire onto unsuspecting villagers leaving people screaming, as their flesh melted from their bones.
It was impossible to be proud of a country that was perpetrating meaningless violence on such a global scale. We were no longer defending anyone’s freedom; we’d become the invaders. We’d become the terrorists and there’s no glory in that.
Now, here we are with two wars in distant lands. Two wars that are barely mentioned on TV or in the mainstream press. Two wars in countries full of America’s liquid gold. OIL. American men and women are no longer forced to serve, they’re signing up, volunteering to destroy other people’s lives and families.
America has now bombed the shit out of the cradle of civilization demolishing the remnants of antiquity that were harbored there. We have decided how the Iraqi people should live and what form of government they need to have whether they want it or not. The media says we’re there defending the freedom of the Iraqi people, when it’s clear that we’re there for their vast, seemingly endless supply of OIL.
Russia tried it’s best to overtake Afghanistan. Big strong Russia, little bitty Afghanistan. They tried for years and years, but in the end, they gave up. That’s when America stepped in. Of course, the media says we’re defending the freedom of the Afghani people, fighting the Taliban. It must be difficult for the Afghani people to see us as helpful and friendly while drones are dropping bombs on small villages, and American soldiers are firing their guns at anything that moves. There is no honor in this invasion and there is definitely no glory. But there is OIL.
Except for the men and women in the National Guard who were suddenly called up for active duty at the beginning of the Iraq war, our military is now a volunteer organization. This means that no one is forcing these men and women to invade foreign lands and murder people in their homes and in their fields. They’re siging on. They’re voluntarily leaving their lives and families to tromp through other people’s lives and families wielding guns and dropping bombs.
This Memorial Day, I thank the veterans of WWII and ask the current military and their families to remove their red white and blue glasses and take a long hard look at their personal participation in the atrocities America is committing on foreign soil. These wars have nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with profit.
These wars have nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction or Al Quaida or the Talilban. These wars have everything to do with OIL. Our soldiers are not making the world a safer place for anyone. They’re wreaking havoc, mayhem and destruction everywhere they go and there’s definitely no glory or honor in that.
