POWERFUL INTERVIEW WITH US WAR VETERAN- "A Veteran’s Lament"

[Jcrowley]

A Veteran’s Lament Interview with Tim Origer
by Kim Petersen
www.dissidentvoice.org
April 9, 2007


Vietnam veteran Tim Origer describes the US government’s insouciance to the troops who are injured while “serving the homeland” but without addressing the fact that the troops are violating international law and morality in killing Iraqis and destroying their country. Origer was 19-years-old when he lost his leg fighting in Vietnam. He also suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, from which it took years to recover. Origer is dedicated to helping veterans who are victims of their government.


Origer’s compassion runs deeper than just helping the veterans. The following is an interview conducted by e-mail.

Kim Petersen: Care for the veterans is important. But what about the citizens of Iraq? It has now been estimated that there are over one million excess mortalities since March 2003. Given that the aggression -- which, according to the Nuremberg Tribunal, is the “supreme international crime” -- of Iraq was predicated on a lie, how does this reflect on Iraqi veterans? What is the responsibility of the servicemen and women?

Tim Origer: Let’s begin by calling the excess mortalities what they are: civilian dead. They are not collateral damage nor accidental deaths, they are civilians caught between or in the periphery of military combatants.

We could begin an assessment of American aggression and accountability with 4 million Native American deaths right here over the short span of our history, or perhaps more relevant to Nuremburg, 200k civilian dead in Germany added to 900k innocent, non-combatant Japanese. 2M more in my war in Vietnam and another 1M in Afghanistan. All totaled, the list of those who have died at the hand of the United States military extends beyond 40,265,000. Although we haven’t quite hit the totals attributed to Stalin, it hardly seems imaginable that we’re finished with the killing. Iran, Korea, South America and China all wait on our paranoid horizon.

We (the United States) are signatories to numerous international treaties and conventions, which if applied retroactively would hold us accountable for crimes and atrocities in nearly every military incursion in which we have participated. So where are the voices speaking out? Where are the coalitions of the just or the victimized calling us to task? Over the course of our illegal occupation of Iraq we have seen literally millions, here and throughout the world calling for an end to our illegal war. With all those voices what has changed? Among those who have spoken out there are a few like Ehren Watada or Camilo Mejia who have done so from within the ranks of the military but at this point they are and for some time will remain, the extreme exception to the rule.

More:
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Apr07/Petersen09.htm

Tim Origer is a 100% disabled combat veteran of America’s War in Vietnam and currently works as an activist for peace and veterans’ issues in New Mexico. He can be contacted at: [e-mail].