Hey, Troops!

by Roger Young

Hey, Troops!  Take a good look at this child you just killed.  Search deep in your psyche and your soul (if you have one) and tell me why this is necessary!  What good can come from this tragedy (magnified by thousands)?  What achieved "victory" (that you and your masters cannot even define) can possibly be worth these means?

Hey, Troops!  I know you don't give a damn, but his name was Ali Hamed.  Despite the awful situation that he was born into (and you created) I'm sure he hoped to discover and learn more about the fascinating world around him.  Can you still remember when you felt that same fascination? I'm sure you can since it wasn't so long ago that you were a child. Some would argue that you still are a child, the way you obediently follow the criminal orders of your war masters.  But you certainly no longer have the spirit of a child- that was long ago beaten down and destroyed by your military mentors who helped create the abominable sub-human monster that is you.

Hey, Troops!  I'm sure Ali loved his family.  Love of family is a powerful force that can motivate an individual to acts of heroic compassion-  or if not controlled, acts of murderous revenge. What if the members of Ali's family (if you haven't killed them all) choose the latter?  You may have killed a handful of Iraqi insurgents but you probably created just as many more!  How stupid are you?

Hey, Troops!  I'm willing to bet Ali was just a typical innocent child who wished harm to no one and was always looking to make new friends.  A spirit like that, when cultivated and refined, results in a peace-loving adult whose contributions are always beneficial.  A personality like that, when properly mentored and developed, results in an adult who looks to build a better world.  But you found it necessary that he DIE.  Now, what ever hope that was offered in the life of Ali Hamed has been lost.  We'll never know.   All that remains is your spirit and personality-  the kind that chooses destruction and death.  Those are the two defining components of your chosen occupation, are they not?  Can there be a more loathsome career path?

Hey, Troops!  I'm willing to bet Ali was a typical child who trusted the adults around him.  He looked to adults for comfort, safety, instruction.  But in came the walking obscenities known as U.S. military soldiers.  They unilaterally decided that Ali was to die for a "greater good."  The comfort and safety of individual children are of secondary importance to the needs of the state collective- in this case, the American occupiers.  I'm sure you believe that those who think otherwise are unrealistic, irrational, and unpatriotic.  Ali was able to escape the vulnerability of the womb but could not survive the divine directives of U.S. policy makers.

Hey, Troops!  I'm willing to bet Ali was still young enough to have no concept of what a state is or the false necessity of having a state-  let alone be willing to kill innocents or even die, yourself, in the supposed defense of one. Maybe he just wasn't alive long enough to be caught in that deception.  Apparently, you were allowed to live just long enough to be indoctrinated in the idea that your life is less valuable than the state that declares ownership of your bedwetting bag of bones!  Apparently, you have abandoned the principles of individual liberty and pursuit of happiness to the lone enslaving principle of "service to country."

Hey, Troops!  What if this was your child?  I'm sure some of you have children of your own. After all, even obnoxious, brutish beasts reproduce.  Would his/her death be as easily dismissed as you do Ali's?  Would you not question the sanity of the killer?  Would you not be curious as to how any human could commit such a heinous act?  Would you not be enraged that such activity is sanctioned by murderous rulers?  Would you not be beside yourselves knowing that the subordinates of such rulers willingly engage in this daily carnage? Or are you so hardened by military discipline that any capacity for empathy has been destroyed?

Hey, troops!  You, who decry the death of innocents on 9/11, see no problem utilizing the same actions to achieve your nebulous objective of "fighting terror."  How can your actions be described as anything but the same- terrorism?  How can you claim to be "fighting terror" while employing the same tactics of your declared enemy?

Hey, troops!  You disgust me.  You repulse me.  How can you possibly think you can return to civilized life and be accepted and forgiven by those who hold you accountable?  How can you defend destroying real, innocent, flesh and blood to defend the abstraction of state and country?  Maybe it's best, for what's left of the civilized world, that your masters have you fight to the death.  Isn't that what "extended deployments" are all about? At least you can no longer hurt anyone when you are a corpse.  Or maybe fate will show you kindness and you will merely lose your minds- swept away by a river of hate, ignorance, blood thirsty nationalism and blind obedience.  In that case, us civilized folk will pray that you remain locked in a rubber cage until God decides the best time to send you to Hell.