By Curt Wechsler

From World Can't Wait | Original Article

"Our grief is not a cry for war," messaged a grouping of artists drawn together by the events of September 11th, 2001. Once again, it's time for those who share this same sensibility — all of us who want a better world — to cry out in protest: All this has not been done in our names! We rededicate ourselves to resist the machinery of war and repression and rally others to do everything possible to stop it. The U.S. must end these wars now!

Millions of teenagers in this country have now suffered 15 years of aggressive solicitation for indentured service to American triumphalism. "A child born on September 11, 2001, is now only a couple of years away from being able to sign on as a pilot in the air wars that began just after her birth," notes Tom Engelhardt. "There are reasonable odds that her child, born several years from now, might be entering junior high school when those conflicts officially become America's Thirty Years' War."

This Sunday, rebuke displays of allegiance to an illegitimate system appended to 9/11 memorials. All life is sacred, and American lives are not more valuable than others.

Truth Be Told, It's Up to Us - Stop U.S. Wars For Empire

It's no secret that government leaders conspire to advance U.S. hegemony in the Middle East with their illicit 'war on terror' response to the September 11, 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City. That horrific event advanced the criminal program of your government, sacrificing liberty to a false promise of security:

Wars of aggression, unjust occupations, and the use of drones, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians around the world;

Mass surveillance on whole populations, with intent to chill protest and dissent;

Indefinite detention and torture of prisoners at Guantanamo and other sites including torturing hunger strikers with force-feeding;

Incarceration of over 2.4 million people in the United States, mainly Black and Latino, a program with genocidal impact against these groups; and

Torture, intimidation and prosecution of whistleblowers while covering up for those responsible for crimes against humanity.

9/11 marks 15 years since the attack on the World Trade Center became justification for U.S. wars of aggression on people in at least 7 countries. None of which attacked the United States. Yet as many as 2 million people have been killed, and many millions displaced by U.S. military interventions, occupations, bombings and targeted killing.

It is on us, the millions of people living in this country, acting together with people around the world, to stand up, tell the truth, and say no to these crimes. We draw inspiration from and stand with Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, the hunger strikers at Guantanamo and domestic U.S. prisons, and other courageous resisters who have illuminated the truth about what this government does.

The wars for empire continue and are at the heart of the flood of refugees risking their lives to escape war zones of the Middle East and Africa. Many students are returning to school with increased consciousness of the injustices of empire and the U.S. military in particular - seewearenotyoursoldiers.org.