Defending our Country..... HOW?

It is always difficult to address those with the mentality “we gotta go kill them before they come kill us”. But when this comes spewing out of the mouth of a young, seemingly educated, seemingly ‘innocent’ white male, I just wonder what has made him accept such violence so early in his life.

I attempt to engage such a young man today at the MRS as he is leaving to go to his car. He claims he is late for work, so he doesn’t have time to talk. I walk with him the three blocks to the parking garage, asking him why he is joining the marines. He tells me he wants to defend his country.

When I ask him how is being the occupying military force of a foreign country “defending our country”, the only thing he can say – after acknowledging no one in Iraq attacked the U.S., Iraqi’s live in extreme poverty now, Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction and not even weapons capable of threatening us – the only thing he can say is we have to kill them before they kill us.

I tell him, if he joins the marines, HE is the one who is going to part of the military force doing to others that he is afraid they are going to do to us.

I tell him this is why we have to have this conversation. For he does not know the truth. If he spoke the truth, if he said “I’m joining the marines to protect our corporations’ and our rich peoples’ right to exploit every other country in the world” then I would not have to stand out in front of the MRS and engage in dialogue.

Before we part, he turns to me and tells me he is defending “free trade” and that’s the truth.

Well, yes, “free trade” as in we (our corporations) are “free” to go into any country and take their resources, at great harm to that country and great profit to our corporations – and great commodities for us!