by Philip Martin

Global Research, April 22, 2007

I'm sick and tired of this patriotic, nationalistic and fascist crap. I
stood through a memorial service today for a young Marine that was
killed in Iraq back in April.

During this memorial a number of people spoke about the guy and about
his sacrifice for the country. How do you justify 'sacrificing' your
life for a war which is not only illegal, but is being prosecuted to the
extent where the only thing keeping us there is one man's power, and his
ego.

A recent Marine Corps intelligence report that was leaked said that the
war in the al-Anbar province is unwinnable. It said that there was
nothing we could do to win the hearts and minds, or the military
operations in that area. So I wonder, why are we still there? Democracy
is not forced upon people at gunpoint. It's the result of forward
thinking individuals who take the initiative and risks to give their
fellow countrymen a better way of life.

When I joined I took an oath. In that oath I swore to protect the
Constitution of the United States.

I didn't swear to build democracies in countries on the other side of
the world under the guise of "national security."

I didn't join the military to be part of an Orwellian ("1984") war
machine that is in an obligatory war against whoever the state deems the
enemy to be so that the populace can be controlled and riled up in a
pro-nationalistic frenzy to support any new and oppressive law that will
be the key to destroying the enemy. Example given – the Patriot Act. So
aptly named, and totally against all that the constitution stands for.

President Bush used the reactionary nature of our society to bring our
country together and to infuse into the national psyche a need to give
up their little-used rights in the hope to make our nation a little
safer. The same scare tactics he used to win elections. He drones on and
on about how America and the world would be a less safe place if we
weren't killing Iraqis, and that we'd have to fight the terrorists at
home if we weren't abroad. In our modern day emotive society this
strategy (or strategery?) works, or had worked, up until last month's
elections.

My point in this; to show that America was never nationalistic. If
anything they were giving their allegiance to the state of their
residence. This is shown in the fact that the founders created states
with fully capable and independent governments and not provinces that
were just a division of the federal government. These men believed that
America was a place where imperialistic values would be non-existent.
Where the people trying to make their lives better by working hard,
thinking, inventing and using the free market would tie up so much of
normal life that imperialistic colonization and the fighting of wars
thousands of miles away for interests that are not our own would be
avoided. They believed this expansion of power could be left to the
European nations, the England, France and Spain of their time. However
this recent, and current influx of nationalistic feeling has created an
environment where giving up your rights, going to a foreign country to
fight a people who did not ask for us to be there, nor did their leader
do anything to warrant us being there, and dying would be considered
honorable and heroic. I don't believe it anymore. I don't believe it's
right for any American to go along with it anymore. Yes I know that we
in the military are bound by the UCMJ and somehow don't fall under the
Constitution (the very thing we're suppose to be defending) but sooner
or later there is a decision that every American soldier, marine, airmen
and seamen makes to allow themselves to be sent to a war that is against
every fiber this country was founded on. I know that when April rolls
around I will be thinking long and hard on that decision. Even though we
in the military are just doing as we're told we still have the moral and
ethical obligation to choose to do as we're told, or to say, "No, that
isn't right." I believe that if more troopers like me and the
professional military, the officers and commanders, start standing up
and saying that they won't let themselves or their troops go to this
illegal war people will start standing up and realizing what the heck is
going on over there.

The sad fact of the matter is that we are not fighting terrorists in
Iraq. We are fighting the Iraqi people who feel like a conquered and
occupied people.

Personally I have a hard time believing that if I was an Iraqi that I
wouldn't be doing everything in my power to kill and maim as many
Americans as possible. I know that the vast majority of Americans would
not be happy with the Canadian government, or any other foreign
government, liberating us from the clutches of George W. Bush, even
though a large number of us would like that, and forcing us to accept
their system of government. Would not millions of Americans rise up and
fight back? Would you not rise up to protect and defend your house and
your neighborhood if someone invaded your country? But we send thousands
of troops to a foreign country to do just that. How is it moral to fight
a people who are just trying to defend their homes and families? I think
next time I go to Iraq perhaps I should wear a bright red coat and carry
a Brown Bess instead of my digitalized utilities and M16.

Notice I never once used the word homeland in any of this. I have a
secondary point I want to bring up now. Never once was the term homeland
ever used to describe the country of America until Mr. Bush began the
department of homeland security after the 9/11 attacks. Taking a 20th
century history class will teach us that the most notable countries in
the last century that referred to their country in this way were Nazi
Germany and Soviet Russia. Hitler used the term fatherland to drum up
support, nationalistic support, for his growing war machine. He used the
nationalism he created in the minds of the Germans to justify the
sacrifice of their livelihood to build the war machine to get back their
power from the oppressive restrictions the English and French had put on
them at Versailles. This is the same feeling that has been virulently
infecting the American psyche in the last hundred years. This is the
same feeling that consoles a mother after her son is killed in an
attempt to prosecute an aggressor's war 10,000 miles away. It's also
known as Patriotism these days, but I say, "No more." No more
nationalistic inanity, no more passing it off as patriotism. Patriotism
is learning, and educating oneself to understand what their country
really stands for.

I heard a lot during the memorial service about how the dead Marine did
so much good for others and how his helping others was like a little
microcosm of America helping because we have the power to do so. Well if
we have the power to help people why aren't we helping in Darfur where
hundreds of thousands of people have died in the last 10 years. Saddam
was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 143 Shiites who
conspired to assassinate him. (I know all you "patriotic" Americans
would be calling for the heads of anyone who conspired to assassinate
supreme leader Bush). And yet we spend upwards of 1 trillion dollars and
nearing 3,000 lives to help these Iraqis when they don't even want us
there. Not to mention we don't have the legal justification to be there.
I guess we should wait around for the omnipotent W Bush to decide who we
should use our superpowerdom to help next. It's about time to throw him
and the rest of the fascists out. Moreover it's about time to start
educating Americans about their past and history, and letting them know
that imperialistic leaders are not what the founders of this great
country wanted.

February 27,2007

Philip Martin has been a Marine for 2 years. He is in the infantry (a
"grunt"), and spent 7 months in the al-Anbar province of Iraq. He went
on more than 180 combat patrols in and outside of the city of Fallujah,
where he was hit with 2 IEDs (luckily never injured) and was involved in
a number of firefights. He is currently stationed in Twentynine Palms,
CA, and due to return to Iraq for a second deployment in April 2007. He
is 21-years-old.

You can send mail to Philip Martin AKA grimmythedog@netscape.net

please respect this Marine and don't disrespect him for speaking out.

By stating the war is "illegal" this man has proven he knows nothing of
legalities, and is merely propogandizing. He's no longer a viable
"truthsayer" of any sort, so can (and should) be ignored without
consequence.

so basically any man or women who is serving in Iraq and decided to make
a objectivity statement against the war is insignificant and should be
ignored. But, on the other hand if he supported the war you would be
like give that man a medal.

Poet are you for peace or for war.

My son speaks out. His views never made it to public eyes.

He has told me several times of firefights that leave dead NON-IRAQIS
armed with RPG's and AK's in the AO. (Area of Operations).

These NON-IRAQIS were shooting at and bombing Iraqis that spoke for not
against the US. In some cases they were shooting at or attempting to
intimidate Iraqis trying to vote.

There are many voices why would you consistently bring up only the
voices of those that oppose.

A just war or unjust peace? I'll go with the just war. I'd rather, like
all, a just peace. But we could not have that with Saddam in office.