Because my little brother, who is my job to protect,
decided to join the California National Guard
to get some money for college and
they promised he wouldn't go to Iraq.
instead three months after enlisting
he was sent to Iraq for one year.
Since he has been home for the last six months,
he refuses to talk to anyone, he lives by himself.
the only person he associates with is a friend of his,
the one other man out of his squad of thirteen men
who made it home alive.
He called me a few weeks ago for the first time
And told me he's having nightmares.
I asked what they were about and
He said they're about picking up the pieces
Of his fellow soldiers after a car bomb hit them.

Because every single one of the Marines I served with,
the really brave warriors, even when some friends and people
they looked up to got killed or lost an arm or leg,
they wouldn't cry, they just kept fighting.
They completed their mission.
Every one of them I have spoken to since we got home
has broken down crying in front of me,
saying all they can do since they got back
is bounce from job to job, drink and do drugs,
And contemplate suicide to end the pain.
Because I'm tired of drinking, bouncing from job to job
and contemplating suicide to end the pain.

Because every time I see a child,
I think of the thousands I've slaughtered.
Because every time I see a young soldier,
I think of the thousands Bush has slaughtered.
Because every time I look in the mirror
I see a casualty of the war.
Because I have a lot of lives I have to make up for,
the lives I have taken and
Because it's right.
That's why I fight.
Because of soldiers with wounds you can't see.

A call to action from Leslie:

Cloy's mom, Tina Richards is a friend.  The first time I saw Cloy, he was asleep in her car, like a beautiful baby, with peach fuzz.  I cried.  She was taking him home before deployment on his second tour in Iraq, after she'd already found him once with a gun....well ~ contemplating suicide.  He's on his third tour now, with very little time at home between deployments.

Please read his poem, below, and then forward it far & wide, especially to war supporters or people who just don't seem to care.

Then call the capitol operator, toll-free, at 800-828-0498, ask for your Senator/Congressperson's office, & tell their aide, who answers the phone, that you'd like to urge the Senator/Congressperson to vote against the supplemental appropriation to fund the further occupation of Iraq.  Even more than our Republican congresspeople we need to hound the wimpy-ass Dems who say they want to end the war, but are having trouble finding the courage to do so.  Start with Pelosi & Reid, then the Dems running for President, then hit the Blue Dog Dems.  They need to know that if they get some balls, we've got their back in the next election.  They need to know it's more of a re-election risk for them to let the illegal occupation continue.

Please do it today.  People are dying.  The vote is coming up.

Thanks.  I'm going to go cry some more now.

Peace & love ~

Leslie