US racism & war

An image from the US war against Iraq taken during the first three months (March, April, May) of 2003. We don’t know who this guy is; we don’t know what he’s doing thumbs up to. We know it’s human carnage. We know he will live (if he lives) to regret this moment!  That’s why the suicide statistics for soldiers & veterans are higher than battlefield fatalities.

The most compelling testimony from the Vietnam War is that of Black soldiers in “Bloods: Black Veterans of the Vietnam War: An Oral History,” who described what they did in Vietnam--using peasants in rice fields as target practice. They were never again able in civilian life to trust their own judgement. In the first Gulf War against Iraq (1991), Black & Latino soldiers played a pivotal soldier & veteran role in opposing the racism of the war.

Those who rebuke these brothers & sisters as war criminals know little of what coerces them to join the military,  less of the racist training that motivates them, & nothing of the power of human decency that compels so many to join the forces of opposition to war & colonialism.

Bring the troops home NOW! US out of Iraq & Afghanistan! Stop the drone attacks on Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Uganda! Support antiwar veterans!

(Photo by Francesco Zizola, 2003)