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The Ghost of Genocide Past (poem)

By Mike Hastie

A Vietnam veteran marches in
a Veterans Day Parade in the
town of Albany, Oregon in pro-
test of the Iraq War in 2003.
Written on the name tag is:
The Ghost of Genocide Past.
Here it is 7 years later,
and the US is still inventing reality
about bringing Democracy to Iraq.
Here it is 9 years later,
and the US is still inventing reality
about bringing Democracy to Afghanistan.

It is all a dog and pony show of smoke and mirrors.
The mirror is the Vietnam War,
and the smoke is the same smoke of death
that is killing massive numbers of people in the Middle East.
It is all about protecting American Corporate Interests,
with its policy of National Offense.
The US National Offense is a swarming locust
of lies and deceits that have become a parade of
death and destruction.

America—you will get away with nothing.

— Mike Hastie
US Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71