Submission by Robby Diesu, TNG contributor

It’s a date that is not public due to security concerns, but some time in February two Iraq Veterans and an Iraqi refugee are going back to a country they left in sorrow.  Back to a country which has been under US Occupation for eight years and been at war with the US for twenty years.  In Basra, where the group will be going, the cancer rate has gone up 231 percent since the first US invasion in 1991, believed to be due to the the result of radioactive materials the US military uses in its weapons.  Electricity comes and goes, as does their running water. Things we take for granted, are great luxuries for Iraqis.  This group is attempting to help begin the process of reconciliation, to begin saying sorry and doing real work toward true change.

While some of our community were celebrating the fact that we can now openly join the largest military in the world, others of us were hard at work attempting to defeat the evils that has been required of our military under present us forgone policy.  Some saw the ability to openly serve in an environment that is based in hyper-masculinity, where one third of its female members are raped, and numerous other horrors that are built into the fabric of military culture as a reason to celebrate. Others were crafting press releases, building for fundraisers, and preparing mentally to go back to a country they once helped occupy. Others of us did not see a real reason to celebrate just yet.

Winning the right to fight openly in US military is a step towards equality but not a step towards liberation for our community. As we sit and wait for the repeal of the policy to go into effect, the horrible acts the US military is forced to perform on a daily basis continue.  We should celebrate the fact that eventually this law will be gone, we must keep in mind what the true reality of being able to join the military means. We as a community need to realize that our fight for equality has effects on other populations. Populations to whom our fight is irrelevant while they struggle not knowing where they will get their next meal.  The point of this article is not to bash those who have fought tooth and nail for the repeal of DADT but to ask ourselves to look critically at the larger picture: do we want to support a humanitarian aid trip to Iraq or have the right to occupy it?

As Martin Luther King day passes again, we as a community must look into the past fight for civil equality.  What would Dr. King say of our movement? Would he be joyous that we have gained the right to fight openly in the US military? Or would he be telling us that it is time to work on reconciliation with the Iraqi and Afghan people?

For more information and to see the process of reconciliation begin with Iraqis, Check out iVAW.org

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