Dahr Jamail was a speaker at a recent Winter Soldier event I attended. I did not know he would be among the veterans and veteran families on one of the panels, and was thrilled to learn that I would be meeting this incredibly courageous man. Dahr Jamail has been an unembedded journalist who has traveled to Iraq multiple times, and at great personal risk, to bring us the truth about the war and now about the occupation of this country by our country. There is no greater reason for this man to risk his life than simply because he has to. He cannot bear the truth of the suffering of these human beings - our soldiers, their families, and all those affected in Iraq - without doing something about it. I am humbled by his service, his service to our soldiers, to all the victims of this war and occupation, to our nation and the world. May we, in the very least, listen to what he has to share... Peace ~ Molly
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Monday 27 October 2008
by: Dahr Jamail, t r u t h o u t Perspective
Long before I discovered the mysterious mix of pain and relief that writing from the heart brings, I was pursuing a Masters in English Literature at Central Washington University in the small town of Ellensburg, Washington.
I was broke, like most grad students, and supported myself by working for two individuals confined to assisted living situations. One of them, Larry, was completely paralyzed. He was unable to speak, and could only blink his eyes. He had been in prison when the ill effects of an operation he undertook there had gone wrong, and were then compounded by an error by the anesthesiologist. His sustenance came from gulping small spoonfuls of food blended with milk. Never in his life would he ever again "enjoy" a meal. He would never be experiencing the simple actions of walking, singing, dancing, swimming, driving, fishing, wandering ...
He may have been unable to speak, but Larry had a lot to say. He communicated by blinking his eyes. I would sit beside his prone body on the gurney and slowly recite the alphabet until he blinked on a letter... It was laborious to communicate with him and it took patience and stamina. He lacked neither, for he had a book to write. We would spend three hours to produce half a page of text.
Everything was against him, but that was not going to deter him from trying to write his book, to tell his story. He had already arrived at the secret of writing that I, as a slow learner, did not learn until long after I dropped out of graduate school from lack of funds. It took me long to understand that I cannot keep quiet about what I know, and must write.
I had to have my heart ripped open, witnessing the occupation of Iraq before I knew that I must write. And I have written hundreds of articles, some papers, and now, two books. Forgive me if this sounds self-laudatory. but I oftentimes feel it is not enough ... that I should do more. So, here I am writing, yet again. And as far as I know, so is Larry, because we both have a lot that we want people to know about.
Or, perhaps, we want only for people to acknowledge what they know already...
The economy is in shambles. Yet, in the heated exchanges between Obama and McCain about the economy, there appears to be no connection whatsoever between the occupation, now costing a cool $3 billion per week, and the financial dire straights the country is in...
Despite a collapsing economy and complicity in a system that is devouring the embers of a burning planet, the privileged carry on with their lives, "unaware." But everyone knows. Even the most ardent supporter of the powers that be is aware of what the government of the United States has done and is doing to Iraq, to the world, to the planet.
I believe that, like me, most people, deep inside, know that many things have gone terribly wrong, that we must find a better way to exist...
What of my fellow Americans? What is their continual denial doing to them? Are we experiencing a mass psychosis? How long will this sleepwalking continue?...
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“It was a failure of citizenship of the American people that the Bush cabal was allowed to invade Iraq. Thus, every U.S. citizen who is not doing everything in their power to end this illegal and immoral occupation as quickly as possible is complicit with the war crimes being committed in Iraq on a daily basis.” -- Dahr Jamail, Independent Journalist, War Reporter, 1968–
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