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Don’t You Dare Do This To Us Again
excerpts from a report by Dahr Jamail. August 5, 2005
Harvey Tharp served in Kirkuk. Being in charge of some reconstruction projects in northern Iraq allowed him to form many close friendships with Iraqis…he asks me to tell more people of the generous culture of the Iraqi people. His friendships apparently brought the war much closer to home for him.
“What I concluded last summer was that not only were our reasons for being there lies, but we just weren’t there to help the Iraqis. So in November of ‘04 I told my commander I couldn’t take part in this. I also chose not to go back because the dropping of bombs in urban areas like Fallujah is a violation of the laws of warfare because of the near certainty of collateral damage. Seeing the full humanity of Iraqis made me realize I couldn’t participate in these operations.”
Tharp says he believes there are still Vietnam vets who think that that was a necessary war and adds, “I think it’s because that keeps the demons at bay for them to believe it is justified…this is their coping mechanism. We, as Americans, have to face the obvious truth that this was all because of a lie. We want to help other vets tell other vets their story…to keep people from drinking themselves to death.”
When he is asked what he would say to Mr. Bush, he says, “It is obvious that middle America is starting to turn against this war and to turn against you…for good reason. The only thing I could see that would arrest this inevitable fall that you deserve, is another 9/11 or another war with say, Iran. There are some very credible indications in the media that we are already in pre-war with Iran. What I’m trying to do is find a stand Americans can take against you, but I think people are willing to say ‘don’t you dare do this to us again.’ My message to the American people is this: Do you want to go another round with these people? If not, now is the time to say so.”
You have been reading excerpts from "What Have We Done?" by Dahr Jamail. You can read the entire piece here: /tinyurl.com/c4j5a. Thanks to Dahr Jamail for everything, including his blog: dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog. We visit often and we hope you will too.
excerpts from a report by Dahr Jamail. August 5, 2005
Harvey Tharp served in Kirkuk. Being in charge of some reconstruction projects in northern Iraq allowed him to form many close friendships with Iraqis…he asks me to tell more people of the generous culture of the Iraqi people. His friendships apparently brought the war much closer to home for him.
“What I concluded last summer was that not only were our reasons for being there lies, but we just weren’t there to help the Iraqis. So in November of ‘04 I told my commander I couldn’t take part in this. I also chose not to go back because the dropping of bombs in urban areas like Fallujah is a violation of the laws of warfare because of the near certainty of collateral damage. Seeing the full humanity of Iraqis made me realize I couldn’t participate in these operations.”
Tharp says he believes there are still Vietnam vets who think that that was a necessary war and adds, “I think it’s because that keeps the demons at bay for them to believe it is justified…this is their coping mechanism. We, as Americans, have to face the obvious truth that this was all because of a lie. We want to help other vets tell other vets their story…to keep people from drinking themselves to death.”
When he is asked what he would say to Mr. Bush, he says, “It is obvious that middle America is starting to turn against this war and to turn against you…for good reason. The only thing I could see that would arrest this inevitable fall that you deserve, is another 9/11 or another war with say, Iran. There are some very credible indications in the media that we are already in pre-war with Iran. What I’m trying to do is find a stand Americans can take against you, but I think people are willing to say ‘don’t you dare do this to us again.’ My message to the American people is this: Do you want to go another round with these people? If not, now is the time to say so.”
You have been reading excerpts from "What Have We Done?" by Dahr Jamail. You can read the entire piece here: /tinyurl.com/c4j5a. Thanks to Dahr Jamail for everything, including his blog: dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog. We visit often and we hope you will too.
