36 images

Some of these images are quite graphic and may disturb some of you.

This is a true story


About what you want to believe


and what really happened


In a land we destroyed


For corporate profit


We went on patrols


Looking for bad guys


We kicked down their doors


Terrorized their families


Humiliated their men


Killed their children


Attacked their religion


Displaced their Nation


and they hated us for it.


So they hit back


and we we hit them


In an ever escalating cycle


Of high powered violence


That pushed us to breaking


and the innocent lives


caught in the crossfire


Were killed by the thousands


Because we were lied to


By a band of fools


Clueless with arrogance


Our bodies came home


Our families they grieved


Our people protested


While we fought for our lives


We finally came home


They fell into chaos


America moved on


But we didn't


Because we paid the piper


For our Nation's folly

Author's Note

This was the hardest thing I ever posted on this site. I'm going to take it down in a few days. It's not appropriate for the WC but it's something I had to do.

Reviews

[Jack Cassidy]

I'm not sure what to say, but I'm thankful that you exposed me to this. I can't imagine how these events affected the people of other nations, but I've spoken to and befriended lots of veterans who endured some of what was represented in your words and pictures and it was difficult listening to their stories and hearing some of the gruesomeness of what took place.

I don't think the point you're driving at is for someone to agree with you, but rather have people stare into the face of humanity and feel how we are all connected, no matter the race, culture, religion, faith, creed, etc.

As always, thanks for sharing.

[Eric Pudalov]

It's hard to write this while I'm just sitting at a computer, and yet you and others were out there and witnessed it firsthand.

But I can absolutely see why, as you said, it was the hardest thing for you to post. I really feel that it's so brave and honest of you to share these pictures (and the accompanying poem) with us here at WC - even if it's against website policy or whatever.

You really have me on the verge of tears, my friend. When you sent me the email, I don't think I quite knew what I was in for. And of course, I don't think anything compares to being there in person, but I suddenly feel inspired to really share some of the deeper things that I may be keeping inside.

I think that writing poetry is very therapeutic, and I hope that by writing these words, you are finally getting out some of the feelings that are within you. Thanks again for your touching pieces (and haunting imagery). The truth is a hard thing to see.

[Buniheart]

Thanks for posting this, really thanks. For being the brave one and telling the truth, when we couldn't. For those families their children, for the lost, and the hurt and the ones left behind to pick up the pieces. Thanks and may their souls rest in peace.

[Poetic Beauty]

Politician sit planning war while they are safe at home and will never have to pick up a gun. This is a hard thing to look at but there is truth to this piece. Our leaders are greedy and lie. We need a political overhaul in our nations capital.

[Daniel Sala]

Hard to write I imagine, but a great piece, thanks for posting it.

Somewhere in there I see a photo of a loathsome man with glasses who needs to appear before the ICC for pre-meditated murder, embezzlement of state funds, and influence trafficking, oh - and theft. Dick the career criminal, aka he's a good, honest, wasp businessman.

[Relic]

This kind of reality is hard to look at and hard to take. I hate politicians and government. Good one Ric.

[m.s.early]

Here the author brings a stark reality of how adults settle disputes on the global level. Here the author displays the unwarranted terror that will continue in the lives of children until we have murdered and humiliated the rest of the living. Here the author arrests our horror in matter of fact verse supported by powerful and harrowing images of our world.

Don't cower and look away. Instead look each image squarely and see through it because each one has a price of life and gold. Some of the images were sensationalized to provoke on a bipartisan level and bet your butt to sell to a magazine. Every sentiment is cheap when it comes to selling war or anti-war. It's the lives that cost, but ironically the first thing to be spent. (Spoils, after all, come afterwards.) The investment is in your children's, your cousin's, or parent's, or sibling's, or neighbor's, or fiend's soul... too easily wasted at the signing of a declaration, the crack of an unfeeling gun.

Have the courage to find the investors. Who pays for the death, the torture, and the raping? Following the money trail will lead you to a patsy. The real w***e mongers are clever enough to disguise themselves. In the end they look just like you and me.

[Josie E. Cook M. A.]

Very graphic and shows how war is not the answer!
Make me sick to think that this goes on in our world.
When will it stop?

[Draven]

I hear so often that America is the greatest country in the world, but I wonder, is it really? Other places live in a prison and we see what torment they face, but in truth I believe that we live in that same prison, we just don't know that we're chained. I hear how evil the terrorists are, but how different are we really? It is hard to fight and kill without feeling as a monster, and it takes a good man to face what he has done, be it right or wrong.

[Cassie]

Oh my!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This one brought me tears, those images, gosh!!!! its so very sad that they met their deaths this way, my throat is dry already and I want to cry.....so sad.