A letter (from an Arab woman) to an American G.I.
When I watch pictures of your dead buddies on albasrah.net and I read some of your naive childlike poems, I feel sorry for you. I honestly do.
I feel sorry for you yet at the same time I feel anger.
It is a very confusing mix of ambivalent, contradictory emotions.
On the one hand,I would love to strike you and on the other hand I say to myself, it is not really your fault.
You chose it yet you did not choose it.
From your perspective you are only "executing orders" . Yet hard facts on the battle ground tell me that you also enjoy the humiliation you inflict on these "alien" "evil " people-the Iraqis.
Despite your own neediness and your being in "it" because "it" will give you a grant, a green card and maybe the famous passport with an embossed striped eagle , you still believe you are superior, a better race, a more advanced one, a purer one.
I see the pictures of your dead buddies and I think of their mothers and fathers and the bitterness and grief they may feel. You all look so young and in many ways so innocent.
Yet when I see you kicking young Iraqis around and beating them to death, when I see you raping little girls and burning them, when I see you making Iraqi children run miles after a plastic bottle of water or when you teach those poor little souls to say "Fuck you Iraq", just for the fun of it - I can't but have hate for you .
(I will not even mention the torture, nor the pillaging - you know all of that already)When I see you urinating in and on sacred places and when I see you writing your degenerate graffitis on 7'000 years old archeological sites, with absolutely no respect or regard for other people's Faith, Culture and History- I can't but have contempt for you.
When I hear innombrable stories like this one : When you stripped naked my friend- a woman with more qualifications than the whole of your army put together, 45 years old , old enough to be your own mother. You said you wanted to make sure she is not "hiding something down there" in her undies. Remember that one ? You did that in front of 30 of your male buddies in your "special" camp. Then you offered her a coke so she can relax and"chill out".
She would not tell me the rest of the story, she said: "Let sleeping dogs lie".
I want you to know that she left Iraq and everything she owned after that incident because of you. She said to me: "I do not want to take anything with me, not even another pair of underwear. Let them have it all." This is how much you disgusted her with your acts.
Yes , when I hear yet another story like this one -I can't but despise you.
I admit, at times, I have empathy for you and for the life you left behind- a life you may never return to.
And sometimes I sit and wonder if you realize the amount of pain and suffering you are inflicting on an innocent people who have done NOTHING to you.
Do you actually realize the enormity and severity of your actions? Do you realize how many deep wounds and scars that may never heal, you are leaving behind you ?And sometimes, I sit and wonder what happens when you go to sleep at night. Can you sleep in peace? Can you close your eyes with a clean conscience ?
And sometimes, I sit and wonder when you finish your round of harassing and killing Iraqis and you deliberately leave them bloated by Death on the streets for days on end - can you still fool yourself and pretend to send "Love" letters to your family, wife or girlfriend?
I have a lot more to say to you but I feel I have said enough. After all , I am not supposed to be engaging you.
But before I end this letter and go back to my daily angst of "living" under your occupation, I want you to know that somewhere deep down, I do care about your sorry little ass.
I care enough not because I like you or enjoy your presence -far from it- but simply because of the mere fact that we happen to belong to the same "race". The human one . And I still have a little faith left on that "front".
I care enough to want you to save your own Self , that Self that will undoubtedly come back to haunt you one of those days. And by doing so , you are also saving your own Life.
You owe it to "yourself" and you can do it with one simple word : REFUSE.
Just do it , do it NOW, do it before it's too late .
___________________________
They say alot of Vietnam war vets suffer after the war, many commit suicide and suffer from
alienation, become homeless, drunks and drug addicts. Totally messed up from the experience of 'war' against civillian populations...looks like America is going to have another generation of messed up people and societies, just because the millitery industrial complex, Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle and Rumsfeld thought it was a good idea to make alot of money.
I would urge the GI to Wake Up, dont be a sucker..that is all you are a sucker fighting someone elses war.
UB40 (British pop group) Song Present Arms:
You got no job you got no pay
Join the military, sign today
They`ll take you off to fight on foreign shores
You`ll be your mother`s pride and joy
Her armed and dangerous golden boy
A uniformed hero that shows no fear
The khaki ranks of flesh and steel
Learning how to smile and kill
They`ll teach you to ignore the screams and tears
... Break Ranks.
Watch the documentary Breaking Ranks about American soldiers going to Canada for protection against being forced to participate in an illegal war.
And some people wonder why I'm so hard on the Ashkenazi Khazars...
... they have been the ones who SOLELY responsible for "pitting" man-against-man in the last hundred years.
There are really basically 3 groups of the guilty:
(1) Those who orchestrate these heinous crimes in the shadows.
(2) Those who carry out these actions.
(3) Those who profit at other people's expense.
Sure, not "all" Khazars fall in (1) or (2), but most fall in (3) -- and that alone is a 'deadly sin'.
There would be much less poachers in the world, if it weren't for the 'demand'.
Very moving. Sadly, there are too few taking a stand against such barbaric behavior. Great Post.
After reading this post I found myself understanding the persons point of view who wrote this. I do not believe for on second that it was written by an "Arab Woman". This is nothing more than a phony diatribe from some liberal piece of crap who is to weak to stand on there own two feet and FIGHT for what is RIGHT!
I am very sorry for the suffering and horrifying living conditions that the people of Iraq have had to endure, not only today, but during Sadam's reign of terror over that country. The American people as well as the people of many other countries are there, not to humiliate, torture, or demean the Iraqi people. There are a few bad apples in every bunch. Do not judge the U.S. or its allies by the actions of a few. They are there to remove tyranny and restore a beatiful country to what it once was.
The soldiers that fight can not help but to never recover emotionally from the things they have to do. Think about it, KILLING another human being. How could one ever get beyond that and have normal thoughts or feelings about anything again? The worst casualties of any war are the men that have to carry the horrors with them forever. The dead are at peace. I would never again want to be put in that position but if I were called on to do so, I would go to Iraq and kill whomever my Commander in Chief ordered me to kill. You included. Nothing personal, just war. I would carry my demons to the best of my ability and be proud that I served my country, yet again.
I feel for every person that is affected by this horrible war but until the Iraqi people can come together and live as civilized human beings, it will unfortunately continue
It's always good to have someone challenge my own points of view. Also, it proves that people who read these blogs include those who don't (at least initially) agree with the content, and maybe challenging their own points of view as well.
Now I don't know who actually wrote this 'diatribe', but what it mentions is well documented. It's good to see you believe in fighting for what is right. Or should I say, you believe in FIGHTING for what is RIGHT! But that just puts much more responsibility on you to make sure that what you might fight for IS right before you fight. Last thing you want, I imagine, is to unwittingly fight for what is wrong.
You say: "The worst casualties of any war are the men that have to carry the horrors with them forever. The dead are at peace. I would never again want to be put in that position but if I were called on to do so, I would go to Iraq and kill whomever my Commander in Chief ordered me to kill. You included. Nothing personal, just war. I would carry my demons to the best of my ability and be proud that I served my country, yet again."
Correct me if I misunderstood you, but are you saying that fighting for your country, fighting whoever your Commander in Chief tells you to fight, is the RIGHT thing to do? Nothing personal? Do it proudly and suppress the demons?
I invite you to seriously think about this reasoning. No human, no country, is beyond committing wrongs, and obeying leaders and countries blindly is very dangerous.
I'm sure (some of) Saddam's goons rationalized the torture and murder they perpetrated on the Iraqi people as RIGHT, in the service of President and Country. Unfortunately, the US army isn't suffering bad rep from a few bad apples. US crimes and atrocities against Iraq is widespread, institutional, and horrendous, not to mention well-documented. The whole invasion of Iraq was a crime, an illegal war under international law, unjustified by any of the reasons given that were all proven to be lies, and it is predominantly the Iraqi people that are suffering.
"I feel for every person that is affected by this horrible war but until the Iraqi people can come together and live as civilized human beings, it will unfortunately continue"
Don't belittle the Iraqis, they've lived as civilized human beings, and have produced some of the world's greatest civilizations, even under Saddam's rule.
I don't know how you define yourself as opposed to 'liberal', but I hope that whatever it is, drop the condescending approach, and try to be a patriot for the good of your country and all others as opposed to a blind nationalist who obeys blindly.
who is such a self-centered ignoramous that he can't even see the irony in calling Iraqis uncivilized yet admitting he would kill anyone 'his commander' tells him to kill - presumably, including his own mother.
The guy is brain dead - the perfect slave/mercenary.