Returned from Iraq recently... Well, about two months ago now I suppose. My life reached that low point a few years ago where the military service seemed like the best option that I had left, and now I work as an Arabic translator for the Marine Corps.
It's hard to get a sense of what's going on back at home while you're in a combat zone. The news is tightly controlled by the military command in the interest of "protecting morale". I had it a little better than most of the guys out there because I could watch and understand the Arabic news broadcasts, but, with the exception of Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiyah, those are heavily influenced by the U.S. as well. So I had though that the reason that I wasn't seeing more unrest back at home was simply because the military didn't want the troops knowing that the citizenry was upset and unsupportive of the war effort. Surely, I thought, there must be protests and editorials against the war back at home. More than a thousand Americans have died, and another four thousand are wounded. Surely the people are upset that there sons and daughters are dying without a cause.
So I came home, and took a month of leave, and went up north to Oregon. I called up a few of my friends at U of O and OSU and asked them what was going on, and if there were any rallies or protests scheduled. All of them came up empty. Even Eugene seemed quiet. And as I started reading the papers and watching the news and looking around me, I realized that this was the case across the country. Noone seems to care.
It doesn't seem to matter that a five thousand of the nation's youth are dead or wounded. Why? Because they were volunteers? Take a look at the average "volunteer" in the military. They come from the ranks of the working class, where, thanks to cuts in educational assistance to the poor and fewer and fewer decent paying jobs, the military is often the only opportunity they really...
Returned from Iraq recently... Well, about two months ago now I suppose. My life reached that low point a few years ago where the military service seemed like the best option that I had left, and now I work as an Arabic translator for the Marine Corps.
It's hard to get a sense of what's going on back at home while you're in a combat zone. The news is tightly controlled by the military command in the interest of "protecting morale". I had it a little better than most of the guys out there because I could watch and understand the Arabic news broadcasts, but, with the exception of Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiyah, those are heavily influenced by the U.S. as well. So I had though that the reason that I wasn't seeing more unrest back at home was simply because the military didn't want the troops knowing that the citizenry was upset and unsupportive of the war effort. Surely, I thought, there must be protests and editorials against the war back at home. More than a thousand Americans have died, and another four thousand are wounded. Surely the people are upset that there sons and daughters are dying without a cause.
So I came home, and took a month of leave, and went up north to Oregon. I called up a few of my friends at U of O and OSU and asked them what was going on, and if there were any rallies or protests scheduled. All of them came up empty. Even Eugene seemed quiet. And as I started reading the papers and watching the news and looking around me, I realized that this was the case across the country. Noone seems to care.
It doesn't seem to matter that a five thousand of the nation's youth are dead or wounded. Why? Because they were volunteers? Take a look at the average "volunteer" in the military. They come from the ranks of the working class, where, thanks to cuts in educational assistance to the poor and fewer and fewer decent paying jobs, the military is often the only opportunity they really have. Is that the reason it doesn't seem to matter? Because once again it's only the children of the poor who are dying? Perhaps if the last graduating class of Harvard were being buried at Arlington our national leaders and the press would have something to say.
Nor does anyone seem to care that this war was nothing more than an exercise in imperialism. The administrations' claims that Iraq was involved in 9/11 or had ties to Al-Qaieda were patently false, and have drawn nothing but scorn from those who are in positions to pass judgement on such things. This invasion is simply one more act of aggression on the part of the United States, the last in a long line of such things. This simple truth is readily apparent to the rest of the world, and nowhere more so than in the Middle East, yet for reasons that I cannot fathom is still denied by many Americans.
I can't count the number of times that I've been at a bar since I've been back and someone has asked me what I do, and I tell them that I'm a Marine, and the conversation turns to Iraq. Almost invariably, they seem stunned that I am against the conflict. Whether they are for or against it, the idea that those of us who must fight have no wish to do so seems to be an alien concept to them. Those that are for Bush seem to be almost offended that I serve and yet dare to question the logic of what I am forced to do. They generally also seem to be the least informed as to what is actually occuring in the desert.
Many of us do not wish to serve in this war, and many of us do not wish to fight. Yet refusing to do so results in immediate and swift retribution from the military "justice" establishment. So we turn to you, our fellow Americans, our brothers and sisters of the working class, in the hopes that you will bring this fight to our nation's leaders, that you will demand the return of our troops to American soil, and the use of our armed forces only in the self-defense of our country, and only when the danger to our society is clear and present.
Thus far, you have failed us.
It's hard to get a sense of what's going on back at home while you're in a combat zone. The news is tightly controlled by the military command in the interest of "protecting morale". I had it a little better than most of the guys out there because I could watch and understand the Arabic news broadcasts, but, with the exception of Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiyah, those are heavily influenced by the U.S. as well. So I had though that the reason that I wasn't seeing more unrest back at home was simply because the military didn't want the troops knowing that the citizenry was upset and unsupportive of the war effort. Surely, I thought, there must be protests and editorials against the war back at home. More than a thousand Americans have died, and another four thousand are wounded. Surely the people are upset that there sons and daughters are dying without a cause.
So I came home, and took a month of leave, and went up north to Oregon. I called up a few of my friends at U of O and OSU and asked them what was going on, and if there were any rallies or protests scheduled. All of them came up empty. Even Eugene seemed quiet. And as I started reading the papers and watching the news and looking around me, I realized that this was the case across the country. Noone seems to care.
It doesn't seem to matter that a five thousand of the nation's youth are dead or wounded. Why? Because they were volunteers? Take a look at the average "volunteer" in the military. They come from the ranks of the working class, where, thanks to cuts in educational assistance to the poor and fewer and fewer decent paying jobs, the military is often the only opportunity they really...