Years from now, after the bombs have stopped exploding and the guns have ceased firing, what shall the US government say? What shall they say to our men and women in uniform who have PSTD or have seen their friends die in battle? Shall the government tell them that their sacrifice was to save the lives of Iraqis or Afghans, when in reality both wars are about curbing any imperial enemies and stealing oil? The purpose of the war in Afghanistan was to secure the TAPI oil pipeline, just as the purpose of the war in Iraq was to benefit oil companies. We definitely will not tell them this, though, lest we run the risk of our armed forces refusing to go on anymore imperialist adventures.
What will they tell the grieving sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, and wives who have lost loved ones to these pointless wars? Shall they tell the child, with tears rolling down her cheeks that her father died defending the United States? Will a young Marine give a son his father’s American flag and tell him everything is going to be alright? Or shall the truth be told, that their loved one died in aiding to prop up a corrupt regime in Afghanistan? Of course not, or the families of veterans would then cease to be staunch supporters of military adventures.
What shall the liars and deceivers of Western imperialist governments tell the Iraqi, Afghan, and Libyan families who have lost loved ones to US-NATO forces? Will they say that those people died in the name of freedom and democracy? Unless they want the wrath of entire countries against them, they shall sweep the truth under a rug and tell bold lies of their own greatness.
The imperialist powers will try to rewrite, revise, and distort history in order to create a false image of what occurred as to portray themselves as the defenders of liberty and justice when they are the very ones who destroyed it.
We must always keep the truth alive for if we do not, the deaths of the Iraqis, Afghans, Libyans and servicemen and women from the US and NATO shall be in vain as the lies that led to their deaths will perpetuate and only serve to create more bloodshed.
Devon DB is 19 years old and studying political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
