If anyone has ever seen the sensational YouTube speech by ex soldier US Army veteran Michael Prysner, he cannot ever forget it. He will be proud that such a man stood up courageously for truth and justice. Serving in the US army for the occupation of Iraq changed his life forever.
“…the real terrorist was me and the real terrorism was this occupation (i.e Iraq) … racism is a vital weapon employed by this government … the ruling class, the billionaires who profit from human suffering, care only about expanding their wealth and controlling the world economy, …we need to wake up and realize that our real enemies are not in some distant land, they’re not people whose names we don’t know and cultures we don’t understand, the enemy is people we know very well and who we can identify, the enemy is a system that wages war when it is profitable, the enemy is a CEO who lays us off from our job when it is profitable, it is the insurance companies who deny us health care when it is profitable, it’s the banks who take away our homes when its profitable, our enemy is not 5000 miles away but they’re right here at home. If we organize and fight with our brothers and sisters we can stop this war, we can stop this government, and create a better world.”
Just see the entire clip and be amazed, be proud.
The same themes were apparent in his keynote speech for the Muslim Link Fundraiser Dinner on March 27, 2010.
He is unabashed about the fact that the War on Terror is a war against Islam and the Muslims, that the US Military Industrial Complex seeks out foreign wars for profit to create immense wealth for the superrich elite at the expense of the poor and duped working class that are used as foot soldiers and cannon fodder (not to mention the millions of foreign nationals at the brunt of the spear), that the occupation of Iraq was never about weapons of mass destruction (he personally observed that all the officers knew that from the beginning) but is only about profits for the big corporations and about imperial control of strategic resources like oil, that words like freedom and democracy and rights for women are just screens to dupe the masses and hide the real purposes for war; that the mainstream media was an active participant in the lies leading up to war and remains active in the cover-up of the crimes being committed in the name of good and freedom, that armed resistance is an entirely just and natural human response to the criminal US occupation, that the perpetrators of this immoral war should be indicted and prosecuted for war crimes, that US foreign policy in the region is a mere tool for the above mentioned elite and for Israeli interests, and so on in a litany of anti war tirades against US foreign policy and the US war machine in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He is a war veteran that believed strongly that the US armed forces were for good and noble causes in the world and sighed up for patriotic service at the age of 17, only to become utterly demoralized by the crimes that he was forced to commit. This experience has changed him radically into an activist against war, injustice and racism. Among the visions and experiences that haunt him are breaking down doors to evict the families of the rightful owners so that the occupation can steal their homes; hearing the screams of women and children and seeing the terror in their eyes; harsh interrogations he conducted personally on people, 99% of whom were entirely innocent (all techniques were of course claimed to be legal and by the books); being called to interrogate a man shot in the neck for trying to get home past a checkpoint; emptying entire villages of men to be imprisoned and who knows how many of them will return to their families; and other emotional firsthand confessions of harrowing detail delivered by a man with a truth and justice mission and anti-war message.
In private conversation he mentioned that he worked with translators to seek out local newspaper articles critical of the US occupation so that they can march in and shut them down - so much for the free press as a necessary civil element for democracy in the Middle East. He mentioned that the average soldier comes to the military just for a job and benefits and does not like his participation in war crimes (and this is why there more suicides than killed in action in the war and moreover startlingly high levels of traumatic stress disorders), whereas the mercenary “independent contractors” (aka Blackwater, XE, etc) who outnumber the official soldiers (to hide war realities and bury the true extent of expenses) are often of the type that actually love the excitement of smashing doors, shooting from the hip, killing indiscriminately, participating in torture sessions, etc. He said that the US anti-war movement of which he is a part, the ANSWER coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), has been harassed by spending tens of thousands of dollars defending against bogus imprisonments and indictments for entirely lawful acts, like putting up posters for legal anti war rallies.
One piece of advice he gave privately to some of the attendees, showing his stance on principles: just don’t work for the defense industry! In this and so many other respects, by his personal transformation and sacrifices, by his courageous speech for truth and bold actions for justice (like participation with George Galloway in breaking -somewhat- the Gaza blockade by Egypt and Israel), by his outspoken efforts to expose lies, greed, injustice and racism, for tireless activism in the anti war movement, he puts many of us Muslims to shame in comparison. Until when will we remain in our spectator lethargy?
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Abu Salman Eberle writes out of College Park, Maryland.
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