Breakdown:

1. The Reality of War: The speaker reflects on their experience in combat, sharing the profound impact of taking a life. They recount a specific moment where they killed a man in front of his wife during a raid, questioning the reasons behind the action. It becomes a deeply personal exploration of guilt and purpose.
2. Questioning the Cause: The speaker starts to unravel the chain of events that led to that moment, from the man going for a gun, to why the soldier was even in his room at 2:00 a.m., tracing it all the way back to political decisions—like the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq over claims of weapons of mass destruction that never existed.
3. The Absurdity of War: This leads to the realization that they were not killing out of personal malice, but simply because they were born in different parts of the world and sent to fight in a war that was fueled by political motives. The thought of meeting that same person in a peaceful setting, such as a café in Paris, reveals the arbitrary nature of their conflict.
4. Empathy and Awareness: Having witnessed the realities of war firsthand, the speaker emphasizes how disconnected people in the United States can be from the human suffering in conflict zones. The impact of seeing these people as “real” human beings rather than abstract figures on the news changes their perspective on war and violence.
5. Conclusion: The monologue expresses a deep disillusionment with war, particularly wars driven by political agendas. It conveys the internal conflict of a soldier questioning the morality of the actions they were forced to take, and how these decisions, made far from the battlefield, lead to irreversible consequences for real people.