A Message to the Men and Women of the US Military

To the Men and Women of the U.S. Military:

Recently the mainstream media have been making a great deal of noise—more so than usual—about a possible war with Iran. With that in mind, I would like to invite you to watch the three videos below. In the first you'll see an exhibit by a group of Iranian artists who specialize in making works of art out of recyclable items such as tin cans.

In the second video you'll be taken to an Iranian health food store; in the third , Iranian artists are once again featured, this time in the predominantly Kurdish province of Ilam.

As you watch these videos, I would encourage you to think about the fact that some of the people you see in them likely will be among the dead should President Obama order an attack on Iran and should you obey that order.








Now that you've watched the videos, I would ask that you reflect on who the real enemy is. I would urge you to consider the possibility that Iran is not our enemy—that in fact, the real enemy is here at home. It wasn't the Iranian carpet weaver who created the conditions that forced this Florida woman and her daughter to have to sleep in their vehicle:




It wasn't the owner of the Iranian health food institute who caused these out-of-work Americans to have to stand in an unemployment line:



Nor these:



Nor these:




Millions of Americans have lost homes, jobs, livelihoods, and pensions due to the financial shenanigans of the bankers on Wall Street. But people are not taking this lying down. As you await possible orders to invade or attack Iran, they are in the streets protesting. The 'Occupy Wall Street' movement has spread all over the country. But police have responded with overwhelming force.



In New York they have attacked peaceful, nonviolent protesters...



People doing nothing more than exercising their first amendment rights were hit with chemical weapons such as tear gas and pepper spray



This is essentially what Americans are up against now...



Obama has done nothing to rein in the police—hardly surprising given that the top contributors to his 2008 campaign were the same Wall Street bankers the people are protesting against. (Click here for the complete list). It seems Obama is owned by the very gangsters who have created the financial chaos that has brought such misery to our country—coincidentally the same people, by and large, who are now pushing to send you to war in Iran. Meanwhile there is a war, in a sense, going on right here on the streets of our own country. In Oakland, police used chemical agents as well as flash bang grenades against protesters.



Here is a photo of former Marine and Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen just after being shot in the head with a police projectile...




In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)

Do you suppose the Oakland Police were acting with pureness of heart? Do you suppose Obama was acting with pureness of heart when he ordered the war on Libya?



Do you suppose this man acts with pureness of heart?



This is Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs. While Americans have been falling further and further into poverty, Goldman Sachs has been posting record profits. Meanwhile, the war on the streets of America continues...



And frankly we, the American people, are losing.



We are civilians, and while we may link arms in solidarity...



We cannot stand up against gangs of armed police.




What I'm asking each of you to do is to exercise your own pureness of heart. I'm asking you to realize that the Iranian artists making those extraordinary sculptures out of paper trash, cans, and plastic bottles, are not the enemy. Yet many of them likely will die should a war be launched against their country. Only you have the power to stop that. Please remember that, and remember also the struggle we are fighting here on the streets of America. Consider what I said above—that the enemy is not over there; it is here at home.

Sincerely,

Richard Edmondson

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian