but all I could feel was shame.

Racism could no longer mask the reality

of the occupation.

These were people. These were human beings.

I've since been plagued by guilt anytime I see an elderly man

like the one who couldn't walk

who we rolled onto a stretcher

and told the Iraqi police to take him away.

I feel guilt anytime I see a mother with her children

like the one who cried hysterically

and screamed that we were worse than Saddam

as we forced her from her home.

I feel guilt anytime I see a young girl

like the one I grabbed by the arm and dragged into the street.

We were told we were fighting terrorists.

The real terrorist was me,

and the real terrorism was this occupation.

Racism within the military has long been an important tool

to justify the destruction and occupation of another country.

It has long been used to justify the killing,

subjugation and torture of another people.

Racism is a vital weapon employed by this government.

It is a more important weapon than a rifle, a tank,

a bomber or a battleship.

It is more destructive than an artillery shell,

or a bunker buster, or a tomahawk missile.

While all those weapons are created

and owned by this government,

they are harmless without people willing to use them.

Those who send us to war

do not have to pull a trigger or lob a mortar round.

They do not have to fight the war;

they merely have to sell the war.

They need a public who's willing to send their soldiers

into harm's way.

They need soldiers who are willing to kill and be killed

without question.

They can spend millions on a single bomb

but that bomb only becomes a weapon

when the ranks in the military are willing

to follow orders to use it.

They can send every last soldier

anywhere on Earth

but there will only be a war

if soldiers are willing to fight.

And the ruling class -

the billionaires who profit from human suffering,

care only about expanding their wealth,

controlling the world economy -

understand that their power lies only in their ability

to convince us that war, oppression and exploitation

is in our interest.

They understand that their wealth is dependent

on their ability to convince the working class to die

to control the market of another country.

And convincing us to kill and die

is based on their ability to make us think

that we are somehow superior.

Soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen -

have nothing to gain from this occupation.

The vast majority of people living in the U.S.

have nothing to gain from this occupation.

In fact, not only do we have nothing to gain,

but we suffer more because of it.

We lose limbs, endure trauma,

and give our lives.

Our families have to watch flag-draped coffins

lowered into the earth.

Millions in this country without health care,

jobs, or access to education

must watch this government squander

over 450 million dollars a day

on this occupation.

[applause]

Poor and working people in this country

are sent to kill poor and working people in another country

to make the rich richer.

Without racism, soldiers would realize

that they have more in common with the Iraqi people

than they do with the billionaires

who send us to war.

[applause and cheering]

I threw families onto the street in Iraq

only to come home and find families

thrown onto the street in this country.

in this tragic and unnecessary foreclosure crisis.

We need to wake up and realize

that our real enemies are not in some distant land.

They're not people whose names we don't know.

and cultures we don't understand.

The enemy is people we know very well

and people we can identify.

The enemy is a system that wages war when it is profitable.

The enemy is the CEOs who lay us off from our jobs when it is profitable.

It's the insurance companies who deny us health care

when it is profitable.

It's the banks who take away our homes when it is profitable.

Our enemy is not 5000 miles away.

They are right here at home.

If we organize and fight with our sisters and brothers

we can stop this war, we can stop this government,

and we can create a better world.

[applause and cheers]