i remember when it all started
i remember where i was
when the invasion began

i remember believing enough of what i now know to be out-and-out lies
to count count myself in
to see it as a necessary evil

after all it was obviously the only prudent action we could take
considering the possibility that saddam hussein might really have had…
the dreaded WMD

nearly everyone said so
and the few who said otherwise
we’re ridiculed
othered
cancelled
even by me

what i don’t remember is

when it ended

oh sure
i remember the fall of baghdad
shock and awe
the death of saddam
and the 2011 withdrawal
but it never really ended
we are still there

we

truth is
when i think of it now
i’m not sure who we are anymore
now that the most powerful in our society are no longer interested in even pretending to conceal any of this
even alan greenspan finally admitted it was all about oil
and john bolton said
even knowing that there never were any WMD
he wouldn’t have changed a thing

the quiet part is now said out loud
loud and proud
the violent extractive domination that is our foreign policy
the assassinations
the torture
the economic plunder

this is now
and always has been
simply the way this system is supposed to work

this system that requires us to engage in endless resource wars
planned and profited by the powerful
fought by the faithful
the professional military class

and forgotten by us
the powerless
just keep shopping folks
that’s your job in all this

no wonder so many people have fallen for all manner of grifters
from the capitol to the church to the media
grifters galore
grifters gifted in weaponizing your grief, grievance and greed

and this shit has been going on in our country since at least 1619

but i’ve got news for you
history is not just a series of snapshots
and radical change is possible

of course it doesn’t help that somehow americans seem to be able to convince themselves that twenty years is a substantial amount of time

i guess for now i’ll just be happy to make it past 2024

Peace/Love

m(__)m