The Chris Hedges Report: Soldiers speak out against America's misguided wars
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- čas přidán 4. 08. 2022
- We are not a good and virtuous nation. God does not bless us above other nations. Victory is not assured. War is not noble and uplifting. The clash between the reality of combat and the Disneyfied version of combat consumed by the public, one that propels many young men and women into war, creates not only dissonance and moral injury, but an existential crisis, an existential crisis combat veterans, at least those who are self-reflective, must cope with for the rest of their lives.
Andrew Bacevich, a retired Army colonel who fought in Vietnam, and Danny Sjursen, a retired Army major who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, have just published Paths of Dissent: Soldiers Speak Out Against America's Misguided Wars. Bacevich and Sjursen, West Point graduates like many writers in the book, come out of the military culture. They began as true believers, embracing the myths of American goodness and virtue, and the military honor code pounded into them as young cadets at the military academy. The reality of combat, as it has for generations, exposed the lies told by the generals and politicians.
Andrew Bacevich is a West Point graduate, retired Army Colonel, and Vietnam war veteran. He is also an emeritus professor of history and international relations at Boston University and the co-founder and president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His books include The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism and After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed. He is the editor of the book Paths of Dissent: Soldiers Speak Out Against America's Misguided Wars.
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Pre-Production: Kayla Rivara
Studio: Adam Coley, Cameron Granadino
Post-Production: Adam Coley
Veterans tell me a lot of their PTSD comes from realizing they were gaslighted and betrayed by their government.
...and much of that gaslighting and pts comes from childhood before they ever see combat in a "theater of war" - the war is here at home. Claude Anshin Thomas, a Vietnam veteran and now a mendicant Buddhist monk, writes quite beautifully about the roots of violence and trauma in our society in his book, "At Hell's Gate".
Pam - In 1964, as a high school junior, I did not understand how the Viet Cong could lose hundreds in fire fights while the U.S. would lose only one or two.
How many people could they lose ? Are we so much better ?
No, we were being lied to. Just like the non-existent "Gulf of Tonkin incident".
It is something that I have never seen mentioned but I had always observed the WW2 vets to have been in a lot better order mentally soeaking than veterans of other conflicts like Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. It's not the easiest thing to measure but I have always suspected that as WW2 veterans were fighting uniformed fascists in countries where those uniformed fascists had invaded (eg France, Italy, Greece, New Guinea, Solomon Islands) that any trauma suffered during that fighting could at least be justified by "we were fighting the Japs on our doorstep" (a common refrain from Australian WW2 veterans about Japanese forces who had occupied territories very close to the Australian mainland).
The news of the horrific treatment by the Japanese of PoWs would've only served to galvanize people's thoughts that they were a ruthless enemy that needed to be destroyed.
But I know of a Vietnam veteran friend of my father's who told my Dad that he has nightmares of having sex with 12 year old prostitutes (because that's what everyone did over there), while the Viet Cong when you even saw them were not much older.
NO SURPRISE
Yes, and: That's the very Essence of Moral Injury.
As a 6 year combat vet of the 101st airborne division I concur. These wars are about profit. Not national security.
I didn’t learn until later on the real reason the war was instigated.
I know a certain 1SGT John K that took six enemy rounds, and a few other very notable events that he was, um, very involved in.
So, I know of the horrors, and I wish you the best.
I didn’t know about SOME of battle conditions, until I played some war games with Veterans.
Even then, I know it’s not the same.
You guys go through a form of Hell that most of us will never know.
I humbly thank you for your service, and give you ALL due respect, and more.
Please be safe, and stay frosty, I beg you.
They have demeaned the words "democracy" and"freedom."
I was in the 3rd of the 506.
@@darrel7589 those terrorist actors did not specifically originate from Iraq.
If the WH wanted to push the issue, like Rumsfeld wanted, they would have torn apart ALL of the ME.
The actions on 911 just allowed him to spin it so that we would get into what he wanted.
Rumsfeld had this all planned out, and the towers coming down were nothing more than the gift he needed to go in with guns blazing.
As bad as he was, Saddam kept peace and provided stability in the ME.
Nobody can deny that.
Always were.
My Dad volunteered for WW 2, right back in 1939. As far as he was concerned, it was the worst decision he made during his lifetime. Not because he didn't think it was necessary to defeat totalitarianism, he did, but because he discovered, very early on, that his life and those of his friends (most of whom were killed) had been placed in the hands of people who couldn't have cared less whether they lived or died. Indeed, it became clear to him that career officers went nowhere in the military without casualties. Casualties were a pathway to promotion. And consequently. more often than not, people died uselessly for little if any purpose at all. Young lives thrown away for nothing.
My dad learned that too. The hard way.
Unfortunately and very sadly what you are saying is still happening all the time because what every war that been fought at least since the 2WW was manufactured and created and made possible by the most vile heinous war profiteers monsters for material profits and is abundantly clear that all these big war corporations are eagerly and continually always prepare for the next country to invade,regime change,organise a coop to suit their evil narrative,to sell weapons and fund terrorist groups and all other unimaginable evil deeds to make as much money as possible without ever giving a toss about the use of their own people like sheep or how many people they murder.
There was that Italian general who wanted a war grave buid for his own unit (not share graves with other units) when he got it he said "now it has to be filled with hero's"
Read "War IS a Racket," By USMC WWI War Hero, Nah Gen Smedley Butler.
😮
Colin Powell covering up Mi Lai comes to mind...
When I join the military “I” was as gunhoo as any one could be Today 50 yrs later “I” realize how wrong “I” was
I told my kids not to join any military branch
What were you wrong about Ashley? You won and for "our" team. Great Job. Now maybe if you realized what you were fighting for you'd not have fought .. that is why they don't tell you. If you tell your children not to be a fighter - that only means the other team wins. Being on the winning team is a good thing.
@@litestuffllc7249If Ashley is talking about Vietnam
You didn’t win
I did the same, as an AIR FORCE VET DURING THE VIETNAM WAR, I TOLD MY SEVEN CHILDREN NOT TO JOIN THE MILITARY.
Untill now Us, Eu n Nato dont repent
@litestuffllc7249 you clearly never served in combat to tell.her that.
What is truly disturbing is watching millions of people who lived through Iraq cheer for war "to the last Ukranian" and scoff at the danger of nuclear war with Russia and/or China.
You would need to back up, provide supporting references, for your comment. I suspect that you are exaggerating, if any of what you wrote is at all true. It lacks credibility, even if I can't personally prove that you are wrong/mistaken. I seriously doubt your comment is seriously or else very right/correct. It might be truthful in your mind, but I think that you are surely wrong, hopefully, about Iraqis, those in the Middle East anyway, for they surely aren't followers of western msm media. Iraqis who fled Iraq due to wars, etc., some of them anyway, in the diaspora might, for whatever crazy reasons they might possibly have, but why would Iraqis in Iraq be against Russia invading Ukraine, not to conquer and dominate all of it, but rather only to defend ethnic Russian Ukrainians in the Dombas region of Ukraine, and to also ask the Ukrainian govt to not join NATO, which is something that should not happen, Ukraine having no relation to the North Atlantic? ?? Etc. You did not provide any supporting references for your claim and this of course makes it highly questionable, as if you're expecting other people to blindly believe what you say ; a very dumb-ass way to be with other people. Hey, you made your comment public, so .... I challenge you to provide support for your claim or comment.
American exceptionalism will need to be beaten out of Americans for the US to self-correct and move forward. There's no other way.
Most people are simply just Ciphers in the crowd, subjugated to the Crowd Think of a kind of Mob Psychology (read: Psychosis), having been conditioned by a certain repetitive Narrative. Others still, utilize such far away schemes as a place to put their psychological coordinates on to - as a way of projecting, Scapegoating, and as such are mere bloodthirsty spectators as at a gladiator arena or a lions' pit being fed christians (or other so-called undesirables).
I was referring to the attitudes of Americans, not Iraqis. Sorry for the confusion. It it astounding to me that Americans - who learned very well that our government does not care about "democracy" at all, and lies constantly about war, continue to support war. That was my point.
@@mikecorbeil I pretty sure he’s speaking about Americans, not Iraqis. And there are surely millions of Americans cheering to go to war for Ukraine and for Taiwan. And if you want/need provided proof for that sentiment to be true, you surely can’t be a serious actor in this conversation.
Why should you feel unpatriotic, if you are speaking the truth, if our country is following the wrong path, it’s patriotic to call out the problem, rather then let them carry on regardless.
There would be less wars if we all made our voices heard.
Well said!
A true patriot says what needs to be said, truthfully.
Sir, I salute you
Truth 💯
Yes.
Great talk Sir. I did 4 x tours in OIF and OEF. Retired from the army after 22 years. After the embassy fell in Kabul, I never felt so betrayed and ashamed at the same time. I think about it almost every week. All that effort, sweat, and blood for nothing . I pray to God that he doesn't withhold punishment for the "leaders " that live in the beltway and retired in Martha's Vinyard that profited off my fellow soldiers death. May they burn in hell.
Truly broke my heart watching boys who had no life experience ruining a whole culture in Iraq. I have never forgiven the US for this war crime. We watched protests all over the world b4 the invasion but still those Hawks murdered so many innocents. I feel for the men and women who now realize the harm done. From NZ
cultural heritage destroyed deliberately. Never again will we know what developed there, like the origins of human culture itself. Not much to blow away heh
Over 450,000 protested against the Iraq invasion, on just one Saturday in Sydney... Our propaganda media said.."just 250,000 objected.. even though all politicians knew that the vast majority of by Australians were dead set against that war...an many others...just as is the case now against Washington in Ukraine.
@kjmax1068. These young souls are regarded merely as "off balance sheet DISPOSABLE assets." Mom and Dad gets a folded flag....and maybe a little piece of metal called a "MEDAL.'
@@rosszografov614 That and many other crimes show, that these so-called politicians don't represent us, they never did, I think and they don't care a bit what the public wants.
Move to Russia, or China or Venezuela. You are obviously too righteous to live in a Western nation of evil.
I’m a military brat and have lived in a military town since I was 18. I’m 37 now. I live outside of Fort Stewart 3rd ID. During the height of the war from 2005-2007, 3rd ID was rapid deployment. Our town became a ghost town for several years. So many of my friends came back so fucked up mentally from the war. Out of my 8 friends that served and were deployed 3-4 tours, only 3 are left. 2 were killed. The other 3 committed suicide. Out of the 3 that are left 1 of them is homeless in Savannah Georgia and is ravaged by alcoholism and severe PTSD and Bi polar disorder. Last I saw him he was in a psychotic state. I just felt so helpless. He wouldn’t eat, he had no idea who I was. Just about all my friends and family are soldiers or spouses of soldiers and veterans. I’ve never heard a single one of them say that they joined the army to fight that war. They joined because they were poor, no opportunities for them to get a higher education, no opportunity to get out of their dead end towns. None of them cared about “defeating the enemy”, they were only concerned with getting themselves and their battle buddies back home. They told me they have no idea of many of the people they killed were even terrorists or regular people who have guns pointed at their families heads by the enemy, trying to fight for their own families. That’s what destroyed my friends minds… the guilt because the truth they knew was much or the killing was killing of innocent people. No war is fought because the soldiers want to fight each other… but they are soldiers who have become cannon fodder for a military being used by rich wealthy powerful psychopaths. They know they caused local communities to starve to death… some soldiers told stories about them teaching those starving kids how to make heroin out of those poppy fields so they could kill themselves in the most least painful way to offer them a merciful death… imagine having to live with that. Imagine coming home only to be discarded by our own government you were just used and abused by. The ones that made it out mentally unscathed were the soldiers who had developed or already had some from of Borderline Personality Disorder: Narcissists/Sociopaths/Psychopaths… those who were not able to rid themselves of empathy usually committed suicide, or became some ravaged by their trauma they turned to drugs and alcohol and are now homeless. That’s why more soldiers have committed suicide than they died fighting terrorists. That’s why 1/3 of the 700,000+ homeless people in America are veterans. The war continued in their minds and was brought back come and the subsequent destruction of their marriages, their relationships with family and friends, their separation from their communities, were are collateral damages to the war across the world. The ripple effect of that wars trauma didn’t stop at the boarders of the Middle East. The biggest terrorists organizations our governments that terrorize the mind of soldiers and civilians of the wars they waged… the fall out from
Those wars will last for generations to come, long after the wars are over. Many of the psychopathic/sociopathic/narcissistic soldiers who get out the military becoming police officers and terrorize the poor black and brown communities here at home the way the terrorized and policed the brown and black people in the Middle East and in Africa. All o can think about is the Charlie Chaplin speech from the great dictator movie:
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost…
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.
To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish…
Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!
In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will!
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!”
Your words profoundly touched me, I really appreciate your sincerity.
Ima copy your testament and refer to it at need. Thank you for spelling it out for us.
Great words. And how long ago were they spoken? Has the world and its leaders taken the slightest bit of notice since? Has the world situation improved?
Great words spoken by Great orators don't cut it.
Iron Sky sung by Paolo Nutini
This is vey beautiful. It is rare that such a long post is not just an ego trip. This is heartfelt & well intentioned from beginning to end. Even quoting Christian scripture is difficult today because American Fake Christianity has become a political party. Not so here, where Luke:17 used as a reason to love and not to judge. I rarely read long posts; I am very glad I read this one...jt
Thank you Chris hedges for continuing to fight the good fight amidst unprecedented levels of censorship to bring truth to the people. 🏆
Yeah, the military never censored anything or covered it up. We'll see how free the speech is during the next "war." Most of this criticism comes long after the dirty work is already done...
8,900 views and won't get to 20k in a month. Watching a 30min story is asking too much. Chris does a great service trying to enlighten the people. The people are entrenched in their Democrat/Republican squabbles.
I hope he doesn't think the right is crazy christian fascists like he thought in 2019. I Mean it was the Mainstream liberal media that labeled him a Russian disinfo agent.
The divided states is morally and spiritually bancrupt due to INDUVIDUALISM and CAPITALISM. A failed state parrading and pretending to be the best in the world. The operatives (judges, DAs, prosecuters and police departments and other enforcement agencies and federal and states politicians) and administratives of the inhumane racist justice system perpetuates VIOLENT culture of
POLICE BRUTALITY, MISCONDUCT, POLICE MURDEROUS ART, MASS INCARCERATION, DISCRIMINATION, MASS BRUTALITY, HARRASEMENT, INTIMIDATION, DOMESTIC T, OPRESSION, SAPARATION OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES AND LAWLESSNESS.
The jackboot justice have been heavily CAPITALIZED to harm, target and criminalize citizens and disporpotionaly black americans through violent laws and policies created by federal and state politicians. The investigatory PIE Chart that detail the counts of jails, prisons, correction facilities and millions of incarcerated citizens DOES NOT tell the WHOLE story of what the federal and state politicians are doing to their fellow citizens across the country.
A quarter of the population (80 million citizens) have directly affected by the impact of the mass criminalization and incarceration through SEPARATION OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES.
The divided states government (executive, legislative and judicial brach, law enforcement agency (police departments), news media) are thuggish and terrorist instituion that silently harm citizens of the world 🌎 to forster corporate capitalism in order to allow the corrupt stake holders to remain in POWER.
This is purely a violent engineered system designed to CONTROL citizens through oppression and suppression and allow for politicians to retain POWER while serving the interest of the corporations rather than their citizens.
The divided federal politicians lack the capacity to serve the interest of their fellow citizens.
And yet - Christ Hedges still stands by the lies he told while "reporting" in Yugoslavia, that he told to get millions of civilians killed and which he told for money and never retracted.
I was an army dental officer who served 5yrs in the army, and participated in the 1st Gulf war. It also took me 20 yrs after separating to realize that our armed forces are not for defense, but rather to subjugate the world. An arm of US industries.
This is one of the best discussions I've ever witnessed on the reality of war. It's a shame not enough people are listening.
Living on the streets, I met many vets who were totally disillusioned. They thought they were signing up to be heroes and over time realized they were often the transgressors. I feel like many of them wind up on the streets in a complicated cocktail of reliving survivalist scenarios, self-flagelation, and being unable to rejoin regular society due to trauma and shame. Many of them told me they had to sign away their rights to the government and they couldn't even talk about it with me. One vet I got very close with, a trauma patient with terrible PTSD that had him living in a managed group facility, told me that joining the Special Forces was the biggest mistake he ever made, and he would never take another order again. He survived a suicide attempt.
Maybe some enlistees realize that the working world is wage slavery with more slavery than wage. Maybe it takes being in the military to see the fraud of democracy, to see that we are forced to be slaves in order to have a few free hours a day to pull a lever for someone who will turn their back on them too. So they give up and let the wars defeat them. That's all I have ever seen since Vietnam
@@averayugen8462 Maybe. I've never heard them articulate that. It seems much more to be a trauma response, both to what they've witnessed, and what they've perpetrated. It's a limbic response as much as an ideological response. It's not so much about economics as it's about the violence perpetrated for the sake of economics. It's much more visceral and raw, and it might be worth the pain if it had been for a worthy cause, but it's realizing the hollowness of the ideology that creates terrible existential pain. Not so much that they were being used, but that they were being used to hurt and kill people, and they got paid and status for it. It's not about wage slavery from their point of view, as far as I can tell, although I can see how it might look like that from the outside.
Yes and why are people patriotic when in one of the richest countries in the world people are living on the streets! I think the corporate whores, Banksters and politicians should be made to live with nothing for a year!
@@katewenzell My compliments on your insight. (A Marine Veteran of 2 tours in Viet Nam.)
The American nuclear democrazy.
My stepfather was a tank commander in WW2. Highly decorated, fought in every theater and injured 6 times. Always demanded to go back in. If he was given orders he didn't agree with, the person giving them was invited to get in the tank. Otherwise, he did it his way. When he got home, he threw away all his medals.
That last part gave me a sense of true pride for his own morality and principles and I felt a deep sense of sadness.
Yes and he was fighting the Nazis. Now the western world is supporting and arming them in the Ukraine!
My Uncle was a tanker in Patton's Army...was captured in the battle of the bulge spent the rest of the war in a German Prison camp.
@@dojocho1894 I'm glad for you that he made it home.
The divided states is morally and spiritually bancrupt due to INDUVIDUALISM and CAPITALISM. A failed state parrading and pretending to be the best in the world. The operatives (judges, DAs, prosecuters and police departments and other enforcement agencies and federal and states politicians) and administratives of the inhumane racist justice system perpetuates VIOLENT culture of
POLICE BRUTALITY, MISCONDUCT, POLICE MURDEROUS ART, MASS INCARCERATION, DISCRIMINATION, MASS BRUTALITY, HARRASEMENT, INTIMIDATION, DOMESTIC T, OPRESSION, SAPARATION OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES AND LAWLESSNESS.
The jackboot justice have been heavily CAPITALIZED to harm, target and criminalize citizens and disporpotionaly black americans through violent laws and policies created by federal and state politicians. The investigatory PIE Chart that detail the counts of jails, prisons, correction facilities and millions of incarcerated citizens DOES NOT tell the WHOLE story of what the federal and state politicians are doing to their fellow citizens across the country.
A quarter of the population (80 million citizens) have directly affected by the impact of the mass criminalization and incarceration through SEPARATION OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES.
The divided states government (executive, legislative and judicial brach, law enforcement agency (police departments), news media) are thuggish and terrorist instituion that silently harm citizens of the world 🌎 to forster corporate capitalism in order to allow the corrupt stake holders to remain in POWER.
This is purely a violent engineered system designed to CONTROL citizens through oppression and suppression and allow for politicians to retain POWER while serving the interest of the corporations rather than their citizens.
The divided federal politicians lack the capacity to serve the interest of their fellow citizens.
Lord what a speech. I cannot thank you anymore than this. You serve your nation and your fellow compatriots Chris..
I’m a construction labour, I feel so powerless when I hear about this, I want to do something to end this madness, but don’t know where to start, I just feel so sad right now.
Don't join the madness!
Don't vote for idiots that will happily take the country to war, look at where they get their funding, as that'll tell you a lot about them.
Help rebuild Gaza
Listening to people who actually served in war is the most important lesson we can learn from it. War is hell, why repeat this lesson? Look to the cause, bad leadership, mostly narcissists, who thrive on chaos and do no care about anyone else, let alone their individual uniqueness.
War is hell to those who fight them and to those who experience the violence as civilians.
On the other hand, war is a huge source of wealth and privilege to the ownership classes. Those who benefit send the peasants into the machine guns. These people are insulated from the pain of injury and the pangs of concience by a belief in the nobility of service to country (meaning themselves) and the ability to buy their way out of participating.
Draft those assholes first and war will soon become unnayractive.
"why repeat this lesson?" -- It's not really a repeat... this "we" you speak of is just a construct of language, it does not exist in any form that can learn. People who went to Iraq aren't the people who went to Vietnam. Children born today are the same blank slates as children born a century ago. To them, it matters not what we have learned. What matters is what we teach.
@Pam Hall : You wrote, " _Listening to people who actually served in war is the most important lesson we can learn from it_ ". We can learn from them, but that does not mean that we should always believe their later views ; such as with the guest in this TRNN interview with Chris Hedges claiming that the us war on Afghanistan following the 9/11, 2001, attacks in the USA being valid justification, when it was ALL a big LIE, based on lies, as is the modus operandi of the US fed. govt and has been for longer than I've lived, now being age 65. War veterans are NOT geniuses. If they were, then they wouldn't have accepted to serve as canon fodder in wars their govts based on damn lies, deceipt.
You should check out Chris Hedges book "Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians". It is like the book featured in this video. Interviews veterans.
Useless careerists and Yes men. Believers in the glory of it, and willing to sacrifice those under them - especially if they don't know them much less see the horrors up close.
The invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq was a monumental blunder. The fact we repeated the mistake in Iraq is mind boggling. The fact our government is still in existence is also mind boggling. Any other country would of had a military coup.
Your wars in Middle East are not for American security but it’s for your allies in Israel
Check out James Top , veteran, march across Canada, to defend freedom.
It was not a blunder.It was a deliberate act by those in control.
It was all part of the plan concocted by the Project For A New American Century think tank... a plan of which the neocons were very much a part.
Of course, it was a blunder as well, because the plan turned out to be far-fetched fanfiction rather than a workable geopolitical blueprint based on reality and realistic expectations of American power. Those neocon and neolib war hawks that brought the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars about are still the most powerful faction within Washington D.C., and they are still playing their foolish geopolitical games - lacking the self-awareness to understand that they are not-at-all competent enough to do so in a way that is a net positive for the US.
Of course, for most of the political establishment, personal gain is what they are after rather than pursuing the US' genuine national interests.
@@slimyfisher1370 Exactly. Now we’re dumping our surplus weapons in Ukraine so we can keep the military industrial complex fat with orders for new equipment.
''We lose these wars because they are wrong.'' -M. Moore
A dear Canadian friend was embedded with other nations troops; possibly with U.S. men; he would say that Iraq blew his mind. Yet our govts either denied our participation altogether or downplayed it. But I think there were around 5,000 Canadians there. The denial of our participation exacerbated their trauma.
Great interview. As an 18 year old recruit going through basic at Ft. Dix New Jersey, I chanted, along with my jogging company, "KILL-KILL-THE VIET-VIET-KONG -KONG"! Somewhere during 2 combat tours in Vietnam the indoctrination faded. So much misery on both sides. I came home to a country that despised us. After a lifetime of retrospection and introspection, I've come to the conclusion that General Smedly Butler was right when he wrote, "War is a Racket". And that General Eisenhower was right when he said, "Beware the military industrial complex". The motives are always the same; power, greed and money. Dehumanize the so called enemy. It makes them easy to kill. I also believe that war IS sometimes unfortunately necessary. Teddy Roosevelt was right. Walk softly but carry a big stick. We use the stick to beat everyone into submission and it hasn't worked. Payback will be a bitch.
That is true. Thives will steal peoples belongings. Evil men will steal peoples humanity.
We all get nervous when the man with the big stick starts to behave irrational and psychotic.
very well written
I love Smedley's Book. He says all that needs to be said.
See my comment above; your role was enforcer. They US got what it wanted.. at least - those controling the country. So good job.
America won.
ALL warfare is based on deception. Sun Tzu.
One of the criminal acts about Iraq that's not often discussed is the exposure of combat troops to DU (depleted uranium.) Ionizing radiation is of an energy that inevitably produces mutations. Some will be silent or repaired, some might produce disruptions that are subtle and seem unrelated, some will produce frank diseases such as various cancers. Regardless of clinical outcome, all those vets suffered genetic damage caused by their own government.
Very important point, though it's the invaded I feel for there.
we left that crap where children play. the troops are the least of it.
@@drakekoefoed1642 Of course. And no one talks much about that either.
@@noelliebtsie Absolutely. But if you, like I, had a close friend who got effed-over w/ lymphoma by that shite, you'd feel sad for him too. We'll never even begin to rectify the damage we did over there.
And those who tried to recycle the vehicles loaded with the aftermath of vaporized depleted uranium slugs infused in the steel.
As an African American. I love what you stand for to me you have tapped into the true meaning human being or meaning of man. I know there are more European like you it’s just hard to find them in a country that has a bad history.
My heart bleeds with the parents and loved ones these soldiers left behind so many wars, how many lives have we killed, have we sacrificed and his many lives have we destroyed directly or indirectly. Some historic backgrounds:
1775/6 - America’s Independence Day
1775-1783 - England
1798-1800 - France
1801-1805 - Libya (Tripoli)
1811 - Native Americans
1812-1815 - Canada & Britain
1812-1818 - Native Americans
1815 - Invasion of Haiti
1832 - Black Hawk War
1835-1836 - Mexico
1835-1842 - Native Americans
1838-1839 - England
1846-1848 - Mexico
1847-1850 - Cayuse war
1855-1858 - 3rd Seminole war
1856 - Bleeding Kansas
1857-1858 - Mormon Expedition
1861-1865 - American Civil war
1871 - Korea
1871-1873 - Modoc war
1876-1877 - Black Hills war
1877 - Next Perce war
1878 - Bannock war
1890 - Messiah war
1893 - Hawaii
1898-1902 - Spanish
1914 - Mexico
1916-1917 - Mexico
1914-1918 - World War 1, Germany, Austria-Hungary
1918-1920 - Siberia, Russia
1927 - Shanghai, China
1939-1945 - World War 2, Germany, Japan, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary & Romania
1950-1955 - Korean War
1955 - China
1955-1975 - Vietnam war
1961 - Cuba
1962 - Laos
1965 - Dominican
1975 - Cambodia
1980 - Iran
1982-1983 - Lebanon
1983 - Grenada
1986 - Libya
1989-1990 - Panama
1990-1991 - Iraq
1982-1993 - Somalia
1994-1995 - Haiti
1994-1995 - Bosnia
2002-2011 - Iraq
2014-2017 - Syria-Iraq with ISIS
2001-2022 - Arghanistan
2022 - China (Trade war) and Russia (sanctions sanctions sanctions….)
America did learn a lesson from past wars: don’t use your young citizens to sacrifice their lives, use other countries citizens instead. ‘Citizens of Ukraine & Taiwan, fight to the last person! We’ll surely support you (from behind by throwing money and weapons)
Terrible.
This is true. And unfortunately the nato troops are ready if called upon. Drinking the lies.
And our local police will become the gestappo here.
The divided states is morally and spiritually bancrupt due to INDUVIDUALISM and CAPITALISM. A failed state parrading and pretending to be the best in the world. The operatives (judges, DAs, prosecuters and police departments and other enforcement agencies and federal and states politicians) and administratives of the inhumane racist justice system perpetuates VIOLENT culture of
POLICE BRUTALITY, MISCONDUCT, POLICE MURDEROUS ART, MASS INCARCERATION, DISCRIMINATION, MASS BRUTALITY, HARRASEMENT, INTIMIDATION, DOMESTIC T, OPRESSION, SAPARATION OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES AND LAWLESSNESS.
The jackboot justice have been heavily CAPITALIZED to harm, target and criminalize citizens and disporpotionaly black americans through violent laws and policies created by federal and state politicians. The investigatory PIE Chart that detail the counts of jails, prisons, correction facilities and millions of incarcerated citizens DOES NOT tell the WHOLE story of what the federal and state politicians are doing to their fellow citizens across the country.
A quarter of the population (80 million citizens) have directly affected by the impact of the mass criminalization and incarceration through SEPARATION OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES.
The divided states government (executive, legislative and judicial brach, law enforcement agency (police departments), news media) are thuggish and terrorist instituion that silently harm citizens of the world 🌎 to forster corporate capitalism in order to allow the corrupt stake holders to remain in POWER.
This is purely a violent engineered system designed to CONTROL citizens through oppression and suppression and allow for politicians to retain POWER while serving the interest of the corporations rather than their citizens.
The divided federal politicians lack the capacity to serve the interest of their fellow citizens.
Very Wise.!
That's the lesson they learned in Vietnam Americans aren't going to support unjust and illegal wars where Americans are sent to fight for other nations for very long and so they turned to using Proxies to fight the Russians and have been doing so since 1979.
When I learned the truth about what this government has done wrong to other countries it saddened me. I believed in the illusion of a great and good America
Know the history
Not just other countries: remember, this country was STOLEN from the people who were already living here.
My grandpa fought in WWII and my dad lived through the Vietnam era but didn’t fight. My grandpa apparently said that while he loves our country, the war in Vietnam is pretty senseless and the government is sending young men to fight an enemy disguised as civilians (the Vietcong). Further, it’s less clear how Vietnam could benefit the average man.
Other WWII vets expressed similar opinions. They saw Vietnam as useless, and the fighting as significantly less “moral” or “honorable” since you’re being sent into a village to find ordinance, only to get bombed, and probably then start shooting civilians. In other words, it’s senseless violence with no real goal.
You could say they same thing about Iraq and Afghanistan. They were stupid wars that accomplished nothing. You can blame the vets for serving, but the main blame lies in the government for telling people this is worth it. Fighting fascism seemed worth it. Fighting some third world country seems like it benefits only people with economic interests there.
It isn't only war. Marshall islanders still suffer.
To believe you can be so naïve. And it’s not “has done”, but what it continues to do.
Thanks Chris. Fascinating discussion
GREAT discussion, wish that everyone could listen to it.
I personally know alot about war myself. I lost my whole family in Vietnam and spent 4 years in an Orphanage in Saigon @ a very young age. It was horrible as only 9 of the 60+ kids in this Orphanage lived to see the end of the war. The nine that survived which by god grace were all adopted by US American families. Fyi, most of Us lost our families to the atrocities commited by the US troops in country. Thanks to the Christian up bringing by my American adoptive parents I hold no animosity towards any of the US soldiers to this day But it was a horrible time in my life
I’m sorry this happened to your country. I can’t imagine having to live with war induced trauma.
Sad to say it to you, I have no desire to hurt you in any way, but GOD ain't got nothing to do with it, GOD doesn't exist. The people tried to drill god crap into my head[Pentecostal orphanage, some were pedophiles but the Staff, most were mean and evil, and Satan guided them no doubt, but there's no Satan either, that's more religious duality bullshit], and they now foster kids, but refuse to allow Catholics and LGBTQ parents from giving a deserving loving home, even with the Xian love they claim to provide, I can tell you that is NOT love, gay people and other religious people are not less than they who claim to follow god, and many are loving people while the other hand these faux Xians are beating you to the point where pain and pleasure feel the same, and wishing for death felt better.
Peace and love to you and yours.
Xian Nationalism is where this country is heading and I can tell you it is no place people like you will be able to recognise, you don't bring fire and brimstone threats as they like to, so, my guess is you won't be a part of it. They aren't religious even, but are more about politics and power and hoping to create Dominionism in this country, their first move was the Civil War, but they failed to win, so they've been biding their time and now have the GOP and more power[Reagan was their pawn, too]than they've ever had.
Again, peace and love.
Peace be with you. !
@@dorian7215 And now the US (government) goons orchestrated the whole Ukraine war by endlessly provoking Russia and financing and supporting open nahtsees in Ukraine.
NEVER FORGET THAT and always be ready to never be a victim again, regardless of how Christianly forgiving you are!
In the September of 1964 I was in the process of being discharged from the US Air Force. The process as every veteran knows includes being asked to re-enlist. I sat at a desk with a staff Sgt. being asked to enlist for another four years. I declined the offer and was met with indignation. No recognitions of the three years of standing guard day and night in all kinds of weather with my K9 by my side. I wanted out to live a normal life of my choosing and not at the demands of the service. After being out for about a year I received a letter from the Department of Defense asking me to re-enlist offering me my rank E-4 and the base of my choice. I was attending JR College at the time and the protest on the campus was not visible as there was no military draft at the time. However on the nightly news on the Viet Nam War in 1965 told about the Air Force Bases being attack my the Viet Cong military. Air Police with their K9 were being attack and killed in defending the base perimeter. I automatically thought that could of been me if I had re-listed. I took the letter asking me to re-enlist and threw in the trash. Now at the age of 80, I thank God I got out of the service when I did.
My dad served in the US Army in the early 1960s. He signed up though the ROTC program, because he realized he would most likely have been drafted, anyway. Due to a clerical error - we think - he was never permitted to head to Vietnam. There is a possibility that I may not be alive today, had it not been for that clerical error. Even if my dad had survived, he probably would have struggled with moral wounding from his time over there. Because he was never permitted to head over there, he remained level-headed. I was able to grow up with a dad who was rational, caring and involved in my life. Only by the grace of God. I'm glad that things worked out for you, too, Sir. I wish you well.
@@lyndagruen2047 those of who served and did not re enlist were very fortunate. I saw many young men panicking over keeping their college deferment or trying to get in the national Guard . It was a horrible time and many died needlessly. It is fantastic you had a good relationship with your father.
Sooooo glad you made that decision.
You were lucky!
Great work as usual from Chris Hedges & the Real News Network! Keep it up. You rock!
During WW2, my grandfather was a U.S. Army medic that fought in France and Germany in 1945.
After the war, he returned to his family and his two young boys.
He died in 2004 at the age of 91.
He told me on a number of occasions that if it hadn't been for the Soviets/Russians, he didn't think he would have survived the war.
Correction General : Viet Nam didn't "END" badly, it started that way, as did Iraq and Afghanistan ! THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT!
The divided states is morally and spiritually bancrupt due to INDUVIDUALISM and CAPITALISM. A failed state parrading and pretending to be the best in the world. The operatives (judges, DAs, prosecuters and police departments and other enforcement agencies and federal and states politicians) and administratives of the inhumane racist justice system perpetuates VIOLENT culture of
POLICE BRUTALITY, MISCONDUCT, POLICE MURDEROUS ART, MASS INCARCERATION, DISCRIMINATION, MASS BRUTALITY, HARRASEMENT, INTIMIDATION, DOMESTIC T, OPRESSION, SAPARATION OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES AND LAWLESSNESS.
The jackboot justice have been heavily CAPITALIZED to harm, target and criminalize citizens and disporpotionaly black americans through violent laws and policies created by federal and state politicians. The investigatory PIE Chart that detail the counts of jails, prisons, correction facilities and millions of incarcerated citizens DOES NOT tell the WHOLE story of what the federal and state politicians are doing to their fellow citizens across the country.
A quarter of the population (80 million citizens) have directly affected by the impact of the mass criminalization and incarceration through SEPARATION OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES.
The divided states government (executive, legislative and judicial brach, law enforcement agency (police departments), news media) are thuggish and terrorist instituion that silently harm citizens of the world 🌎 to forster corporate capitalism in order to allow the corrupt stake holders to remain in POWER.
This is purely a violent engineered system designed to CONTROL citizens through oppression and suppression and allow for politicians to retain POWER while serving the interest of the corporations rather than their citizens.
The divided federal politicians lack the capacity to serve the interest of their fellow citizens.
A very respectful & astute gentleman who coincidentally won't confess to his own internal (M.I.C.) demons shows how deep & disturbing wars victimize American veterans
Agree and this all happens to make a few Oligarchs richer.
This show just gets better and better.
Anyone who volunteers for a war has been tricked into volunteering for their own harm. The ruling class call it sacrifice, service, noble, offer them a secure career, long or short, of following orders. Desperation rules belief and drives blind faith.
Thank you for saying what people think and feel, but are afraid to say lest they sound unpatriotic.
Absolutely! I say very little to anyone about anything these days. It's so refreshing to hear I'm not the only one who thinks this way - I was really starting to think I was alone!
If they fall for that psy op,, Shame on them
They are actually the TRUE patriots. To say that it's "patriotic" -- that is, to stand up for one's country and the values & principles of that country -- to invade, destabilize, oppress, kill, and steal from people in other countries for the profit of billionaire corporations, is utterly ridiculous. Patriotism has been co-opted by the powerful (like religion has been for centuries) to justify their horrible acts and to manipulate people to commit horrible acts on their behalf. That isn't patriotism. It is only a corruption of it. A real patriot would stand up against such crimes against humanity (because it dishonors one's country & values).
We're not true patriots unless we can be honest about what the MIC has become. Our vets & active duty deserve our support but those that create these wars don't deserve our unwavering following.
@@katiekane5247 When will people talk about the focus at "home?" The literal war in the "family" system thats existed for decades
I hope to see more whistleblowers and more resistance and more open criticism BEFORE the next "war."
#FreeJulianAssange.
Too late we are already in the next war.
Too late my man. Pelosi has already planned her next insider trade. No stopping the machine from making some good money.
The divided states is morally and spiritually bancrupt due to INDUVIDUALISM and CAPITALISM. A failed state parrading and pretending to be the best in the world. The operatives (judges, DAs, prosecuters and police departments and other enforcement agencies and federal and states politicians) and administratives of the inhumane racist justice system perpetuates VIOLENT culture of
POLICE BRUTALITY, MISCONDUCT, POLICE MURDEROUS ART, MASS INCARCERATION, DISCRIMINATION, MASS BRUTALITY, HARRASEMENT, INTIMIDATION, DOMESTIC T, OPRESSION, SAPARATION OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES AND LAWLESSNESS.
The jackboot justice have been heavily CAPITALIZED to harm, target and criminalize citizens and disporpotionaly black americans through violent laws and policies created by federal and state politicians. The investigatory PIE Chart that detail the counts of jails, prisons, correction facilities and millions of incarcerated citizens DOES NOT tell the WHOLE story of what the federal and state politicians are doing to their fellow citizens across the country.
A quarter of the population (80 million citizens) have directly affected by the impact of the mass criminalization and incarceration through SEPARATION OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES.
The divided states government (executive, legislative and judicial brach, law enforcement agency (police departments), news media) are thuggish and terrorist instituion that silently harm citizens of the world 🌎 to forster corporate capitalism in order to allow the corrupt stake holders to remain in POWER.
This is purely a violent engineered system designed to CONTROL citizens through oppression and suppression and allow for politicians to retain POWER while serving the interest of the corporations rather than their citizens.
The divided federal politicians lack the capacity to serve the interest of their fellow citizens.
Sadly that requires a coup
Thank you for exposing the truth ..We need more voices like these .
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
You need to carefully consider that quote.
Thank you so much Chris for your ongoing determination to bring to light the futility and absolute stupidity of ALL wars...You are a blessing to all of us who question...I think the time is nigh when we will have to rid ourselves of all these "Mad Maxes" and try and find genuine intelligence,caring and leadership..
As a sophomore in high school in 63/64 it looked like Vietnam was going to involve me. I decided to study the country and the conflict and decided then and there that there was likely no way we could win a war there. Apparently no one in power could see that. The Tonkin Gulf incident turned out to be a lie as did WMD's and the noble Ukrainians fighting for their freedom against an army ten times their size. In the end the only benefactors have been a handful of fat cats in this country that have no qualms about a lot of people dying to line their pockets. Maybe WW 2 was a noble war. MAYBE....Even though I blame the great depression for it which was caused by bankers.
BTW, I did serve and did my job.
My grandad burnt alive in his tank protecting his country against nazis in WW2. Protecting own country is the only honorable use of force.
I pray for the NATO to dissolve and let the world live. 🙏 I pray for veterans to find a new meaning in life, forgive themselves and heal. I pray for victims of war and their families to rebuild their lives. I pray for young men and women to find to choose a better path than going to the army. 🙏
I pray for Peace. 🙏 Amen.
And again writing a book is helping/allowing trauma experiences to be objectively put in their place. This author is a respectable truthful man with so much heart, intent and true leadership. It can't possibly be easy in any way to be able to even achieve this level of sharing the self reflecting of traumatic experiences at the same time so therapeutic in itself.
Those who speak out against war are the heroes if there are any...
This is important and insightful but it is still myopic. How were these wars experienced by the peoples' of these countries? An elderly Afghanistan was celebrating a wedding with his family. There was a drone attack and he was blown off his feet. When the smoke cleared all that remained of his grandson was the hand that he had been holding. The bride and several other relations were killed. The US admitted that it was a mistake. I'm not interested in what the soldier 'felt' about this attack.
Wouldn’t it be so helpful to hear the voices of US war victims? I agree with you, and I still appreciate this insight because you can almost see the affects of imperial “socialization.”
I'm interested in knowing how ordinary people can be socialized into committing atrocities.
I am an Army veteran and will not served ever again in the US armed forces to go and fight unjust wars , never again !!!!!
working as a PMC in Iraq just prior to the draw down and watching the podcast has inspired me to make a purchase and read the book.
This is a brilliant discussion of wars past and present! Thank you for airing this perspective. This segment could be a civics and history course of its own.
This guy still thinks invading afghanistan was justified?? He's still lost.
" There is nothing romantic or satisfying in war, it is horrible and profoundly depressing."
George Marshall
Thank you for this incredible interview.
First book against America's misguided wars: "War is a Racket" Major General Smedley Darlington Butler: USMC.
If only more people had read it...years earlier!
@@MSOetjen... agreed.
@Andrew Pease
90-years ago exactly (1932) the vets were in WDC protesting Congress's failure to meet the obligations to veterans, and it makes Jan 6 look like a little girl's teddy bear tea party.
Brilliant discussion and vital book. Son 22 with a BA escaped Parris Is this Spring. Every human in his life was dumbfounded he joined. Reasons were all future economic. Did his research on the sly. One week in he realized his mistake as met physical and osychological challenge for officer track but really realized the mission of the MIC complex. He waited the month, got out and now in Americorps out west. Other ways for Alaska Native to pay for Masters and start out in life for future financial security. Not accepting Imperialism and wall street war machine profiteers marketing propaganda to add gas to fear breeding in usa 2022. I know plenty of underprivileged kids who are given third rate education and futures by design in America. All our Congress needs to be voted out. $40 Billion plus to Ukraine Nazees and the multitude of American, Ukrainian and nato profiteers. Russia was right in their mission and in creating a fair new multipolar world. Stay the F home America and tax the rich and corporations so we can rebuild a gutted USA. Get out of your bubble and see the decline across usa. Treasure of people, resources and future squandered. Stay Home. Revolt and fix laws, dismantle mic, msm, wall street, lobbyists etc.
Absolutely a great insightful, commentary!!
Stone cold sober truth.
The pharmaceutical military congressional media complex is rotten to the core.
Everything must change or we are no more
Thank you to all the commentators for their courageous truth.
Thanks to Col.Bacevich, and Chris Hedges also
God Bless you 🙏 for revealing these truths
If only
We cannot vote Congress out. The Demopublican'ts have locked up the electoral process. We are left with looking to alternative measures to force them out, a completely untenable situation. No wonder everyone's scrambling to leave this country!
@@glintinggold maybe the prediction that there will be a civil war in America.... Not too soon but it will happen .. ??¿?¿?
hi. i absolutely love your work. blunt honest truth about what is happening. the rest of the world needs to hear or read your work.
Thank you Sir for your service...🇺🇲
My personal opinion regarding US soldiers suffering PTSD stems mainly from waging unjustified and illegal wars that their soldiers cannot find ethical strength to fight by or live by.
Love Erik Edstrom's statement on the military and here in Australia, we take these murder machines, glorify them and then appoint them as our Governor General. There have been but a few GG's of Australia that have not committed heinous war crimes.
We live in Florida and are surrounded by injured and sick service people. It is overwhelming at times and quite disturbing.
Gr8 video, your comment on army reporters reminds me of two Australian army statements- An officer is never lost he’s geographically embarrassed, he never retreats he advances to the rear 🙂
All the best from down under
Lewis
Sydney 🇦🇺
As a Vietnam combat veteran I agree with what Col. Bacevich says….however if the US really wanted punish who were involved in attacking us on 9/11 then we should of kicked the shit out of Saudi Arabia…I wonder what country we would have invaded if Afghanistan also had massive quantities of oil.
Sometimes numbers don' t add up. Two planes hit two towers. Three buildings collapsed plumbline.
Find out the temperature of burning Kerosin.
How hot will kerosine get in regular airplanes? Enough to melt steel?
Find out about the structure of those three towers.
Trump said the towers were built very special.
He was interviewed right after the tragedy as he is expert in sky scrapers, not only his Trump towers in New York and Vegas.
There was white dust all over the place at ground zero. Nothing else, just white dust.
Nobody had ever seen white dust instead of normal ashes after a building burned to the ground or collapsed to the ground.
No dead body was found or no parts of bodies like hands, fingers, feet etc.
None of those people working in the buildings, none of those 170 passengers.
No wedding ring or necklace was found.
No office device, no stapler, no computer screen, no office chair or parts of it.
A passport was found next to the building. It was the passport of one of the alleged pilots.
Where are the wallets and passports of all the tourists in the planes?
Where are the suitcases, handbags, rucksacks? Plane seats, some plane pieces, anything at all ?
Is it not a miracle that all that was left of a 40- story building was a pile of white dust?
Just one single passport was found. The passport of the alleged guilty guy.
Do you believe in miracles?
More likely shit in DC and TelAviv.
Again Chris Hedges for speaking to us all. Wake up America. Thank you to all veterans who has served and passed in unnecessary wars. Better ideas now for all. ❤️
Thank you for your honesty and sharing the wisdom and insights you acquired through your nightmare experience.
Chris you are our national treasure, I admire you very much. Thank you and your guest, and my thanks to Real news.
A LONG TIME COMING 💜🙏💜
Awful to hear that this man watched 27 years of military actions and policy without truly questioning his actions as part of that criminal operation. I was in the military and realized it was a joke in boot camp. Clearly not a thoughtful younger man. Glad to hear he's come around, but god damn, after 27 years and more after that? Dude
As I signed my 17 year old son's enlistments approval documents, I told him, " You are now an indentured servant of the US military." 20 years in the Navy, eventually/mostly as a Navy diver, it was clear my influence had been usurped. Almost a decade of retirement, he is just now realizing this fact.
Served with American soldiers during the Vietnam war...Good men...I salute you all.
Save quality journalism free Assange
As someone in a far flung part of Asia I always thought the PTSD was from the act of killing. Now I know that's just a small part of it.
They call the physic harm from killing others ' moral injury'.
Psychic?
Today, with all degree of communication and civilization, every war is unjustified.
What's happening today is insane.
This should be required viewing every veteran's day: while all the flags are hung out of homes to show "support for the troops", and the war movie marathons are being aired.
You two are brilliant. Thanks for this interview, Mr. Hedges.
how many kids did he kill .now feeling little bothered about history
2 Time Afghanistan veteran for the Dutch army engineers. After 15 years of service to my country I ended my career as a soldier a few months back. The sudden withdrawal from Afghanistan and the handing over of power back to the Taliban was the last straw for me.
Joris De Laat you weren't fighting for your country
fighting for warmongering politicians is not your country
what danger was YOUR country in?
A voice of intelligence and integrity rarely heard on you tube.
Thanks to Andrew for talking about PTSD. People that haven't suffered from it never understand what affected people undergo, the devastation. But, I think, it would help a lot if more people had at least the appreciation Andrew seems to have. Just hearing someone talking with appreciation about PTSD is already a relief.
Now imagine how their victims feel!
Even after 50 years, this man appears to be struggling greatly with his own denial. Very defensive. How very sad. (Maybe he didn't know who CH is when he agreed to this interview?). Chris showed tremendous restraint. Kudos to him.
It was fascinating to witness this interview. Maybe he did not know. Saw Mr Hedges in Portland years back right after Iraq. Brilliant man. What heart.
its why we die ...old minds dont change and evolve some do most dont...nature gives birth to new units (youth) to inspire new minds new ideas well thats one point of it
When we fight and come home we're hailed as heroes (regardless of the truth). When we speak out against the wars we're villified as traitors or "puppets".
Glad to have been your student at BU 2009- 2011. All due respect Sir!
He assumes that 9-11 was not an inside job.
I am a Conscientious Objector...won my UMCJ Court Martial. Peace over War folks.
Thank you for this broadcast.
When will America realize that our nation is not doing what is used to be, a loving nation and protector of people's right, a nation that many people around the world respect and adore? We have lost our respect from our friends.
Much love Chris! YOU are the best! YOU give us hope.
Could not imagine a worse ambassador for these truthful and insightful essays than this pro-army apologist.
Could not imagine a better one !
Thank you!
Live with "Heart,Morals, and Dignity "is the beginning and ending throughout your life .
To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish…
SOLDIERS! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!
In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will!
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
-Charlie Chaplin
Thank you 👏👏👏
Well said... Unified words of wisdoms
Great to see these topics covered and discussed .I just wish it featured in MSM
Good to see you guys waking up to this fact. Muhammed Ali & others tried to warn Americans but, most were too blind and ignorant to see. My friend is a nurse at the local VA hospital, she tells me first hand how the American bureaucracy treats its heroes 😏
There are no hero’s only dead ones , I never trusted any politicians ever , they are scum bags
It's not a consensus, it's a business.
Thank you so much for sharing this genuine and heart touching interview, as soon as I finish reading a couple of books I will be buying this one.
Thank you for your comments and incite....This is a eye opener.....everyone was not truly informed...because of the political leadership.
People that take no personal part in Warfare, seem to be the staunchest supporters of War. Any War, any place, anytime. Those that are a part of that war, tend to come away, not so enthusiastic.
In 2017 I had a few days holiday in Chicago. As an English tourist is was saddened to see the number of homeless men who obviously were veterans. We do have that in U.K. too and we were warfare allies.
Thank you, Chris!
As long as people like Chris snd Andrew can speak out there will be hope for your country. If they are silenced, then Finis America.