Jesse Gillis is from Pembroke and an active member of NH Veterans for Peace.

I was 15 years old when the warmongers in Washington finally got their war on the citizens of Iraq in 2003. At this point in the 2020s, I thought it was a common understanding the Bush administration lied to all of us: Iraq had no WMDs, no nuclear program, no threats of violence, and no role in 9/11. Yet, disturbingly, few remember the lies.

Invading Iraq was criminal. Every person in that administration, media, thinktanks, and experts that lied to us is complicit in over 180,000 Iraqi civilian deaths and the wholesale destruction of their society.

I was naïve, trusting our administration. I was in a perfect ideological position to harbor ill will against another nation and personally carry out legalized state violence against that nation if called to do so. They will thank you for your service so long as you uphold their vision. Look at how they treat any of us, especially veterans who question why we’re sent to war.

In 2002, President Bush designated Iran as a member of the Axis of Evil, along with Iraq and North Korea. This dribble shaped my ignorant understanding of our foreign policy. Our media pushed this agenda of a war on terror, needing to topple multiple regimes for the good. They were all willing to kill, displace, and dehumanize the men, women, and children of that country so you don’t question the violence.

The war hawks in our institutions have been calling to attack Iran. Some gleefully wait for the right crisis to obtain our moral support for war. The Iranians distrust our government for good reason. They harbor animosity toward the U.S. foreign policy establishment. I’m afraid we’ve forgotten what our government, regardless of the administration, has been doing in recent history.

Our CIA finally, publicly disclosed their involvement in a coup to remove Iran’s democratically elected president in 1953 and install the Shah. He was a dictator, a U.S.-backed tyrant. We interfered with their democracy for oil. He was a despised leader, eventually deposed in the Iranian Revolution of 1979, headed by the Ayatollah.

This is not good for Iran, but our foreign policy establishment preferred this. They even aided in it, helping the fundamentalist, theocratic state take over. Otherwise, the powerful communist and socialist parties in Iran could take power — better for a repressive regime than give the Soviet’s a chance to expand into the Middle East.

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Our government began almost immediately to punish the people of Iran for this and continues to this day. We economically sanction them, place oil embargoes, and bar trade from global markets. This has one purpose: to make the daily lives of the citizens so difficult chaos erupts, destabilizing their society, and potentially leading to a violent overthrow of their government. It ruins the citizens’ lives for geopolitical gain. It’s sociopathic. Look at Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Yemen, or North Korea.

Our government supported Saddam Hussein for eight years during the Iran-Iraq war. We provided finances, military equipment, components for chemical weapons, and intelligence to wage war. We even gave Saddam political cover while he used those chemical weapons against the Iranians and Kurds. In 1988 during the war, one of our ships shot down Iranian civilian airliner Flight 655, killing all 290 passengers. Regan refused to apologize and nobody since then has.

Any understanding of contemporary history in the Middle East could see U.S. foreign policy as antagonistic at best. For over two decades, the war hawks in Washington call for war and regime change in Iran. How are the citizens of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, or Syria doing? Are they better off now with American intervention? Where did the lip service of concern for the people go? The death toll alone is in the millions. Tens of millions are displaced. It’s an atrocity.

These professed Christians look for enemies to conquer, enriching themselves financially, and politically. They worship power. They serve their donors. No love for their neighbor. No concern for human dignity. No care for the destruction of other nations, for the violence brought to them. They will sacrifice us all for their cause. They will bless the bloodshed in Christian language.

In this, we have the same worth as the men, women, and children of those decimated countries. We are all dehumanized. We have more in common with the people of Iran than we do with our leadership.

It is our citizens’ duty to hold our legislature accountable. This is our patriotic duty. They act with impunity as they violate the Constitution. Democracy requires your involvement in the electoral process for it is the only way to hold authoritarians in check.

Be the light of hope you wish to see.