I was 21 years old and living in Iowa City when daddy Bush announced he was going to bomb my home country Iraq. I also lost my legal status to live in the United States and was being deported back to Iraq. And since I was still an Iraqi citizen, I was being drafted into the Iraqi Army. I was going to be deported to serve alongside Iraqi soldiers to fight American soldiers. It was a death sentence. I was afraid. Eventually I went to immigration court and was granted political asylum in order to live in the United States. I had little choice. Dark days. Years before we escaped the Iran and Iraq war, where the United States was supporting Saddam, only to have to deal with another type of horror in America. There was no safety anymore. I remember being in a bar and I met a soldier that had fought in Operation Desert Storm. He said it was justified in killing Iraqi civilians because they were all ‘faggots’. I felt the hatred around me. I lied about where I was from. I also started hearing people referring to Arabs as ‘sand niggers’. It never stopped and just got worse. And here we are again, bombing the Middle East for over 25 years. Millions of Iraqis lost their lives and continue dying for politicians. Clinton with his soft-murder sanctions, just killed Iraqi children in a different way. The American flags went up, the golden ribbons tied around trees, and the blind and bigoted patriotism was starting to shout. What was it all for? Oil and power. And the lies to the poor working class families that they need to send their children to war because of: Freedom, God, Patriotism… it was all bullshit. War for greed and coroporations. We learn nothing. I have never seen peace in my life.