Not only do Americans find every possible reason to justify enlisting in the army, but they are brazen enough to think it’s appreciate to say it to your face that they contributed to US imperialism. For me and other Iraqis in particular, that manifests in ex soldiers saying things like “oh I’ve been to Iraq!” when they learn you’re Iraqi, as if somehow you’re supposed to be impressed that they’ve directly contributed to the colonization of your country. Anyone is selling a blatant lie by saying that military recruitment is viewed as a “necessary evil” for those who “have no other choice.” US soldiers are proud to be US soldiers—and they have no problem saying that to the face of the people whose countries they’ve wrecked. There is no shame involved in having worked for the US war machine
I’ve also yet to see this whole caricature of the regretful US soldier who simply had to genocide my people. With Iraq in particular, I have firsthand accounts from friends of family who’ve had to deal with US soldiers raiding their houses, stolen their things, sexually assaulted them, incarcerated them and tortured them… but it’s easy to buy into the whole saintly soldier narrative when you don’t even take into account what someone does once they’ve actually enlisted. Americans’ thought process starts at someone “having to enlist” and ends there too. My people’s suffering is not just an afterthought—it’s literally not a thought at all. What comes next does not matter to them.
I can’t help but have a hit-wrenching visceral reaction every time I hear “oh I’ve been to Iraq, which part are you from?” From a former soldier like no you don’t get to casually (even proudly) say that, you don’t get to freely mention my country in that context… so I started saying I’m from the small town in America that I live in bc I don’t want to deal with this conversation anymore .
