I wonder what the soldier is saying to this person. I wonder if the soldier has any idea why the person is there in the first place. The solider quite likely wasn't able to point to Iraq or Pakistan or Afghanistan on a map prior to the US invading these countries; this is not uncommon for Americans as our media is among the most censored and controlled in the so-called free world. We learn about a country after the US government has bombed it.
You can see why the training for marines is a complete brainwashing. The training is intended to destroy any remnant of independent thinking. It trains you to kill, but not to question who it is or why you are killing them. It trains you to believe the likes of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld without question. See The Ground Truth.
It turns you in to a non-thinking human.
The root of increasing anti-Americanism abroad and the growth of what they call terrorist groups is a direct result of US foreign policy.
The former IRA man Brendan Hughes wrote of how it felt to have his country occupied by British troops and I include it below. It is a thoughtful piece and we as Americans might consider that a collective New Years Resolution might best be a decision to end the free reign that we have given our government to travel the world unrestrained committing atrocities along the way and the terrorists are not always only the other guys. It is this arrogant exceptionalism that angers people; the fact that some third world former US installed dictator is a terrorist and a war criminal and Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush are not. The most efficient killers of all live here.
On re-reading Hughes' piece it makes me think of the hatred and anger an Iraqi, Afghani, or Pakistani man or woman must feel as they cannot move around in their own countries without being checked, without having retina scans forced on them by foreigners occupying their land. Scans that US politicians tried to introduce in to the US but were stopped on individual rights grounds. The video that Wikileaks released we should all be thankful for. After all, we are big on freedom and transparency in government in the US; aren't we? Iraqi's, walking around in their own country gunned down by attack helicopters flown by foreigners. The spending of our tax money in this way is the reason we are having education, housing, jobs and other social services savaged at home.
One can only imagine the anger and hatred of Americans that that creates. And the arrogant and insensitive way the pilots talk about the deaths and the maiming of children; they are Americans who need help; they have lost their humanity as so many people do in these situations---situations the US government put them in without cause.
Wikileaks doesn't have to put US lives at risk, the Bush, Obama and the US government have already done an exceptional job at that.
WHO IS STILL HERE?
Brendan Hughes
In revolution there are two types of people: those who make it and those who profit from it. Napoleon I
22/01.2002
It is easy to lift a gun. It is even easy to fire it. When you see the body of a 17-18 year old it is not so easy.
We were young. They were young too. The British Government sent them onto the streets of Belfast. The IRA sent us out to oppose them. I took no pleasure seeing a young Englisman lying on the street. But I admit to taking pleasure from taking on the might of the British Empire.
Most of the kids who died here knew nothing of why they were here. The bulk of them came from poor working class families just like our own. I remember one time in McDonnell Street a young British soldier had been left behind by his foot patrol. He was only 18. I was not at the scene but soon received word that the IRA had captured a British soldier and were holding him captive. In those days we did not have radio communication. By the time I arrived at McDonnell Street the 18 year old soldier was already dead. He had been shot dead by a 17 year old IRA volunteer. I regret to this day that I was unable to stop his death.
We had no desire to kill kids whether in uniform or not. But it was kids who fought this war on both the British and Irish sides. I was never filled with hatred for other human beings. I did not hate the English people. I hated what the British Government did to my country.
Today I left my flat which is situated near the top of the high rise complex in which I live. When I reached the ground floor I met three armed British soldiers waiting to take over the lift. No one is allowed to use our lift when the British soldiers change guard. But the lift was put there for the
residents not an occupying army.
It is not easy to swallow it. If you live in London or New York, could you feel indifferent, if you were to walk out of your home to be confronted by a number of armed foreigners who insist on telling you what you may and may not do? I don't think so.
As I walked up the Falls and past the commemorative garden built to honour the dead volunteers who had given their lives resisting the repression inflicted by the British Army I thought to myself that despite all the promises and new arrangements, the British hadn't gone away, you know.
1 comment:
This article is so alien to mainstream journalism. It's views and sources are based on worldwide events and essential facts. We simply can't hate foreigners and treat them with indifference. Brendan Hughes came from very challenging times. Nationalism is too narrow-minded and exclusive of foreigners. But how can one argue with his comments. We do not concern ourselves at all at sending teenagers to do our dirthywork for us. This is a very thought provoking article.
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