Ross Caputi: "I am Sorry for the Role I played in Fallujah"

Guardian UK
Re-posted from stopwar.org.uk
Ross Caputi
December 22, 2011.

"As a US marine who lost close friends in the siege of Fallujah in Iraq seven years ago, I understand that we were the aggressors  ...

What we did to Fallujah cannot be undone, and I see no point in attacking the people in my former unit. What I want to attack are the lies and false beliefs. I want to destroy the prejudices that prevented us from putting ourselves in the other's shoes and asking ourselves what we would have done if a foreign army invaded our country and laid siege to our city.

I understand the psychology that causes the aggressors to blame their victims. I understand the justifications and defence mechanisms. I understand the emotional urge to want to hate the people who killed someone dear to you. But to describe the psychology that preserves such false beliefs is not to ignore the objective moral truth that no attacker can ever justly blame their victims for defending themselves.

The same distorted morality has been used to justify attacks against the native Americans, the Vietnamese, El Salvadorans, and the Afghans. It is the same story over and over again. These people have been dehumanised, their God-given right to self-defence has been delegitimised, their resistance has been reframed as terrorism, and US soldiers have been sent to kill them.

History has preserved these lies, normalised them, and socialised them into our culture: so much so that legitimate resistance against US aggression is incomprehensible to most, and to even raise this question is seen as un-American.

History has defined the US veteran as a hero, and in doing so it has automatically defined anyone who fights against him as the bad guy. It has reversed the roles of aggressor and defender, moralised the immoral, and shaped our societies' present understanding of war.

I cannot imagine a more necessary step towards justice than to put an end to these lies, and achieve some moral clarity on this issue. I see no issue more important than to clearly understand the difference between aggression and self-defence, and to support legitimate struggles. I cannot hate, blame, begrudge, or resent Fallujans for fighting back against us. I am sincerely sorry for the role I played in the second siege of Fallujah, and I hope that some day not just Fallujans but all Iraqis will win their struggle."

Read  the rest of this thought provoking article here.

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Comment:  This article was not re-published in any mainstream newspaper in the US.  Surprised?

It is fitting to remember that approximately 6000 Iraqi civilians died in the occupation of Fallujah.

Obomber, the Nobel Peace Laureate, summed up the US war on Iraq on December 14 with these glorification remarks:

This is an extraordinary achievement, nearly nine years in the making. And today, we remember everything that you did to make it possible. … Years from now, your legacy will endure. In the names of your fallen comrades etched on headstones at Arlington, and the quiet memorials across our country. In the whispered words of admiration as you march in parades, and in the freedom of our children and grandchildren. … So God bless you all, God bless your families, and God bless the United States of America. … You have earned your place in history because you sacrificed so much for people you have never met.

What utter rubbish!  The US murdered innocents in a war of lies, greed and aggression.   What about the millions killed in the cumulative devastation?  Is that the faceless sacrifice Obomber is referring to?

Oh and they fought this murderous war and killed innocents in Iraq so American children can be free!

Huh?

What f*cking kind of twisted logic is that?  Free from what?  A moral conscience?

And, what kind of god will be smiling down on Tom and the US for massacring innocents?  Not a just God that is for sure. 

So much for the first black president of the US.  This is "the change you can believe in" - but first you must go mad to make it easier to rationalize.

Onward!