How many more must die for a lie?

Where have all the young men...and
women gone? They're dying in Afghanistan,
Iraq, and dozens of countries to maintain the
US empire that will surely collapse as all
others have since the beginning of time.

For me, it is very personal. Tears are often close
to the surface from what I saw and did during my
time in the Marines 1968-1970.

Marine Corps boot camp, and advanced infantry
training and more did not teach me one thing.

I was taught how to react to an ambush, or to set
one up, hand to hand combat etc.. But, what was not
mentioned was something that happened my very first
day in Nam (Da Nang-Christmas Day 1968).

I went into Da Nang city briefly and was warned to watch
out for the children who might steal. But, I will always
remember a lovely young girl of about 12(only because
I much later had a daughter...and could guess her age)...
she had no right eye and stood back of the children asking
for money, or food or anything. She did not have the benefit
of reconstructive and cosmetic surgery...she didn't wear
an American uniform!!!

I felt awful. I saw others who missing arms, legs...
burn marks...napalm (Nape)...begging for food...or
a young boy 12? askingif you wanted to have Boom
Boom No. 1...with their oldersister(s) or mother.

But, it is that young girl and the look she had that is
always with me...(she didn't ask for anything; I think
she felt different...not as young as the others...and marred)
Anybody who knows me knows i'm a good tipper. I
didn't have much that day (I got paid an average of
$0.50 per hour for my time in Vietnam--war is fecking
criminal!!), but I looked at her and made my way through
the crowd to give her more than i would others. (She
ripped at my heart...I could tell she wouldn't ask...i've
always wondered what became of her?

It is those things-what happened to children,
to other Marines blown to bits,(for a fucking medal),
maimed, traumatized that hurts and causes pain most
every day of my life. Those who died or were wounded
among us returned and had to fight their own government
for recognition that their wounds/conditions merited
treatment...the children of Vietnam or any country
America wages war upon...has to fend for themsleves.

Our leaders are killing generations of young whilst the
corporations profit enormously. They are fecking criminals
who deserve to be walked up to the dock with the scaffolding!



This is what a hero of mine (and most Marines) had to say about war:



http://www.fas.org/man/smedley.htm


Smedley Butler on Interventionism



-- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General

Smedley Butler, USMC. War is just a racket. A racket is best

described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to

the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what

it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the

expense of the masses.

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy

investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should

fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill

of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is

blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle

men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations,

and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison.

Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four

months in active military service as a member of this country's most

agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned

ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period,

I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business,

for Wall Street and for the Bankers.. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster

for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it.

Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought

of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in

suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This

is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico , especially Tampico , safe for American oil interests

in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank

boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American

republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped

purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912

(where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for

American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went

its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket.

Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best

he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.