Dissident Veteran For Peace: What is a Troop?

Dissident Veteran For Peace

"I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America." —Alexis de Tocquevile. Democracy in America, Book I, Chapter XV.

With a nod to the Most Rev. Dom Helder Camara: When I support Palestinians some call me an 'anti-Semite', when I try to explain why I stand in solidarity with Palestinians they call me a Nazi.

"WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." —Major General Smedley Butler, USMC (ret.)

"... no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end." —character of O'Brien in 1984, part 3, ch. 3 by George Orwell.

"Every prophet has realized that nobody loves you for being the enemy of their illusions. Every prophet has realized that most of us want peace at any price as long as the peace is ours and somebody else pays the price. That is why the prophet Jeremiah said, ' "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace,' ..." —The Rev. William Sloane Coffin. "Not to Bring Peace, But a Sword."

Sunday, April 13, 2008

What is a Troop?

A Troop

A troop is an invention of the military,
A battlefield commodity to be used and discarded
Like a spent shell casing.
A troop obeys without question,
It does not ponder the significance
Of the Nuremburg Principles.

A troop is an invention of the military.
It may be given a nerve gas "antidote"
Which will allow it to fight a while longer,
But will not keep it from dying.
It may be given experimental drugs
Without its permission.

A troop is an invention of the military.
It may be sent home in an HRP
(Human Remains Pouch),
Or wheeled away on a gurney
To fill a bed recently cleared
Of troops from the previous war.

A troop is an invention of the military.
A dead troop is a "casuality" if from the U.S.,
Or "collateral damage" if from Iraq.
It may be male or female
(the war is an equal opportunity killer).
A troop is the property of the military.

Source: Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist. StormWarning. No. 34. Winter 1996-97.