We train them to create an 'other' in their mind that they can morally justify destroying
This week footage of a helicopter attack on a group of journalists
has the world suddenly up in arms
the other 100 thousand civilians nothing compared to those few minutes of footage
as if the world collectively realized, hey.... so THAT IS WHAT THEY MEAN BY CIVILIANS?
The General in charge comes out and says all ninety shootings at check points
some lethal
were in error
for the last year they killed and killed and killed because of a miscommunication
oh how to approach our troops
They are not trained to police
They are trained to kill
They are not trained to build co-olitions among tribal leaders
They are trained to kill
I read a headline in an underground site about how the soldiers were inhuman
as they went from in mortal fear of their lives
to killing what they assumed was an enemy
in a war
where they have been trained to kill
where the threats around them send their friends home in body bags
where they fire first and then toss a gun on the body/a shovel (for burying bombs)
We ask young men to be executioners
they are not a jury/they are not a judge
in ww2 most soldiers fired over the head of the enemy
Hitler says a young american soldier let him live during a chance encounter in a woods
The Army reacted by training soldiers to kill/kill/kill
Now they aim at the enemy and fire
They are us
So soldiers used humor to come down from the adreniline of being in mortal fear of their lives
would we have all had more sympathy if they had broke down and cried right there
as some of them surely will later/you think they will be the same after this experience?
They are us
We sent them there to kill and kill and kill until all villages were safe for our children
To chase out the Taliban and take down a bloody dictator threatening to go nuclear
A broken economy sends the armed forces more bodies than they need now
the poor are drafted as sure as back in Vietnam
Serve or starve -- the oldest motivator in a generals recruiting tools
I hate the ones who blame the messengers that war is hell
The army gave the helicopters a review and said they acted appropriately
I heard the terror in their voices when they thought the camera was going to launch a grenade
They backed the hell up and opened fire
Just like in every action film you have ever seen
Every video game you have ever played
Every battle they have been in real and simulated
The moment when survival at all costs becomes the animals imperative
People who have not been there should shut the fuck up about those who have
They acted in a toxic environment
An army unprepared to fight in an urban environment without decimating the population
The enemy depends on our hearts to bleed for civilians
send women and children to haul them bullets during the battle
a sniper shoots your comrade from a house and you run in and they say they know nothing
How many times could you hear this before you would begin burning down their houses?
Before you would cut the ears off their children as a warning of what happens when
they harbored the Taliban?
A bloody tactic that they used to subdue Iraq
Did we blame them then?
We sent them there
We paid for their upkeep
We voted in the president who said he would keep fighting
We send our blood into impossible situations
then second-guess their methods
Watch aghast from our peaceful hoods
as the reporters are shot down by the machine guns
As the helicopter passes back over and makes sure the enemy du jour is dead
As the soldiers celebrate a victory over what felt like death to them
As they sound like the football players
they were a couple years before
winning a game
Americans raised in our modern Sparta
Surrounded by myths of heroes and enemies
our mentality viperous in the garden
the snake with an apple for all
come on in and shed your culture/your religion
be enlightened/catch up with the now
BE LIKE US
be a consumer like us
lay down five times a day before your television
get free pictures of Brittany Spears going commando
the butterfly lips of her pink labia are worshiped here/we lay our money at her altar
make sure she lives the life of a queen
get porn after ten on showtime
drunk whenever you want
in the west you don't even have to marry the prostitutes before you bang
We offer a plastic stamp that says Democracy
and tell them to put the label everywhere on their dictatorship
prop up a drug drenched leach who fills the go with his family
Seen that before and it always ends bad
The view from a satellite/what will fit in the New York Times
What is let through MI to be shown to the general public
has no way of conveying flight or fight
an animal trained to react as killer kills
We are wrong to hide such films and I am glad that the world gets to see what the warriors live
A moment of reality that mocks every war film ever -- a flicker of film
that could stand as the last war film ever made
the one that did it
that taught us what we create when we make a soldier
that taught us what a civilian dying looks like
that taught us what is being done in our name and on our dime
that taught us that when you have an army of trained killers the kill
That taught us to judge the chess masters -- instead of their pawns
We have torn a wound in the middle east and an infection is spreading
Generations are being raised to hate and fear us
We now have a middle east trying to go nuclear that wants our blood
and we are the world's cops by default/the target right after Israel
more people will die
more soldiers will be asked to kill
You cannot be taught to kill 'nicely.'
They are fighting an enemy that was in the city
shots were fired on a daily basis
this was not a drive by shooting or Sarah Palin fucking murdering wolves
I pray for the families of the fallen
mourn the dead in the video
wish there was a way I could do something/anything
to tell them how sorry we all are
how this is never what we wanted or what we were told we were supporting
we are shielded from the realities of war by our tv dramas and movies and books
laws that forbid showing corpses/restrictions on press reliant on the military for access to stories
war is a law unto itself
train a dog to fight and send it into a ring with an enraged opponent
then act all surprised when your little puppy draws blood
WE ARE WAR
OUR DEAD
MUST BE RESPECTED EVERY DAY OF OUR LIVES
WE ARE THE USA AT WAR
WE CANNOT KILL KINDLY
AS LONG AS THE ENEMY HIDES AMONG CIVILIANS...
there will be tragedies that haunt all good people
none more than the families of the dead
and the young men who will have to live with those memories for the rest of their lives
Today I wore a used black leather Marines jacket
I bought a few weeks ago
with my buzzcut hair and dark sunglasses and black combat boots...
I noticed when I said hello to people they all called me sir
I wanted to tell them it was just a jacket to show my support for the soldiers
Didn't want to pretend I am a soldier to anyone
Happened anyways
They seemed to trust me more than usual/smile more/move out of my way quicker
quite noticeable effect
I wondered if a real Marine would feel pride in such a jacket
and what happened to the person who had owed it before me
a lot of the used stuff comes from the dead/the jacket is worn in the elbows/expensive, soft black leather
I was grateful for a moment that my back kept me out of the military
Thankful to that anonymous someone
who had worn this jacket once
some guy who was tough enough for their training
probably saw his share of combat around the globe
I put the jacket away wondering what the hell we are still doing in the middle east
feeling like nothing is worth all the death and destruction
that we should just cut and run
fuck it
but I know the otherside, too
if not now....when will we confront those who would blow the shit out of us
The stench of death is strong in this room
None of it makes any sense to me anymore
I want to send them all home...
ay off the families of the dead
chain the dogs of war
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