I tried hard to be proud of my service, but all I could feel was shame.
Racism could no longer mask the reality of the occupation.
These were people, these were human beings.
I've since been plagued by guilt, any time I see an elderly man, like the one who couldn't walk, who we rolled onto a stretcher, and told the Iraqi police to take him away.
I feel guilt anytime I see a mother with her children, like the one who cried hysterically, and screamed that we're worse than Saddam, as we forced her from her home.
I feel guilt anytime I see a young girl, like the one I grabbed by the arm, and dragged into the street.
We were told we were fighting terrorists. the real terrorist was me, and the real terrorism was this occupation.
Racism within the military has long been an important tool to justify the destruction and occupation of another country, it has long been used to justify the killing, subjugation and torture of another people.
Racism is a vital weapon employed by this government; it is a more important weapon than a rifle, a tank, a bomber, or a battleship; it is more destructive than an artillery shell, or a bunker buster, or tomahawk missile.
While all those weapons are created and owned by this government, they are harmless without people willing to use them.
Those who send us to war, do not have to pull the trigger, or lob a mortar round; they do not have to fight the war, they merely have to sell the war.
They need a public who's willing to send their soldiers into harm's way.
They need soldiers who are willing to kill and be killed, without question...
They can spend millions on a single bomb, but that bomb only becomes a weapon, when the ranks of the military are willing to follow orders to use it.
They can send every last soldier anywhere on Earth, but there will only be a war, if soldiers are willing to fight.