‘Ashamed to Be An American’
Nov 25th, 2005 at 10:48 pm by Susie
My tradition is to spend the day after Thanksgiving with an old friend and her family. We were sitting at her sumptuous spread of leftovers and talking politics.
Her husband, a retired NYC cop and Vietnam vet, was shocked when I told him we were using napalm and white phosphorus on civilians during the seige of Fallujah.
“They’re using jellied kerosene instead of gasoline, but yeah, it’s napalm,” I told him.
He shook his head. “You know, I dropped white phosphorus on my boot once and I couldn’t get my boot off fast enough,” he said. “You should see that stuff. It burns right on through, real fast. When you use it on people, it does the same thing. It’s like putting dry ice on someone’s skin.”
“Fallujah was like a recruiting program for terrorists,” I said. “The things we did to civilians there have guaranteed them volunteers for decades.”
“It just makes me feel ashamed to be an American,” he said.
“Yeah, I know. I never felt this way before.”
“I have. Once before,” he said.
So don’t leave us hanging — did he say what that occasion “once before” was?
‘Nam…
This is the most powerful piece of yours that I have read. Thank you.
I don’t think we need a summary of all the vietnam atrocities Izq.
Interestingly enough, the local Veterans Outreach group recently contacted me and - upon reminding me that I needed to ‘come in out of the cold’ and that I am thirty-three years later completely f*cked up in the head - asked if I would be interested in helping the kids coming home.
I don’t know. Yet.
Tips For Living In Your Truck: two heaters, so as not to wake in the morning and find it twenty-two degrees inside.