I went to war in Vietnam
twice…twas under five months
I was 18, and
sure of why I was there
I thought.
We were there to bring freedom and democracy
to the people.
But, the government our leaders installed
were no more than puppet dictators.
Their troops brutalized the people
they were meant to protect…
Our troops brutalized the same people,
Our troops bombed, napalmed and massacred
the same people
Where was the freedom and democracy
we were bringing?
The Vietnamese were as free as American Indians
living on the Reservations
They were as free as the people living in Gaza
Freedom and democracy is the lie told to the troops,
The same lie is told to the American people
who nod and continue to watch
the football game on TV
They don’t think, nor question.
They put yellow ribbons around trees
unless there is a football game on.
Americans wear small American flags their lapels
They put American flags on their car windows
They hang American flags from their houses
They hang massive American flags on the appropriate holiday,
You can’t get any more patriotic than that.
Freedom and democracy is the lie told
to America’s victims.
We are freeing you
We are bringing you democracy
So, please vote in our rigged elections
for your choice of dictator.
They don’t hate us for our freedoms, for
they don’t exist anymore for Americans
“Step out of line and the man will come
and take you away
or shoot you down in Ferguson.
They don’t hate us for our freedoms,
They hate us for what we do to them,
American troops are known as rapers
whether in Okinawa, Vietnam, or
or in France, Italy, Germany and Japan.
They don’t hate us for our freedoms,
They hate us for the way we treat them,
from Vietnam to Fallujah
America wages chemical warfare.
In Afghanistan, America is known as
‘The Wedding Party killers,
We bomb them.at least eight since 2001.
They hate us because we bomb and obliterate
their villages from Ben Suc where an army major said
'It became necessary to destroy the town to save it'
Or Fallujah, whose children have higher cancer rates
than the children of Hiroshima.
Like the Palestinians of Gaza they hate our occupation
I once believed I was fighting to liberate a people
I learned that I was not on the side of good,
but on the wrong side
And, I never forget the children I saw with no eyes,
arms, legs, or beautiful faces marred by shrapnel,
I never forget those friends who had hands blown apart,
or dead, wiping up human remains,
or counting body bags until I got to 240, and
I couldn’t count anymore
I’ll never forget the hospitals full of maimed,
blind, deaf and amputees
War never ends for those who went through it,
soldiers and civilians
Under 5,000 US troops have been killed since 2001,
but each year over 8,000 veterans of those wars
commit suicide…..that’s what war does to those
who are lucky to survive.
Those who plan and execute war deserve a small cage in Gitmo,
no more, no less!
