Colonel (ret.) Richard Black: Palestinians Are Our Sisters and Brothers

Dr. Mark Perlmutter’s remarks to the September 16, Sare-Vega and Friends Monday night Zoom discussion were followed by a response from Colonel (ret.) Richard Black. Col. Black served as a Marine helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, was the head of the Pentagon’s Criminal Law Division, and served as both a Delegate and Senator in the Commonwealth of Virginia’s General Assembly.

It’s really an honor to be here with you tonight, Dr. Perlmutter. I just want to thank you for having the courage to go over there, and to do the work that you did. And also, especially to have the courage to articulate to what we call the “civilized world” what barbaric things we are a party to.

I received a small video not long ago, of one of the children who had been wounded in Gaza. Just by way of background, I’ll tell you, I have a very intense combat background, and I’ve personally, with my hands, tried to put out the burning phosphorus that had engulfed a Marine on the battlefield. His eyes were burned out, his skin was slewing off, and we rushed him out to a helicopter. Later that night, we heard he had died, and I’ll tell you, every one of us who had been involved just prayed to God and thanked Him for delivering that man from his pain and suffering. I just say that by way of telling you that by far the most horrific thing I have ever seen is what I saw in this video from Gaza.

It was a single young girl about ten years old. She was in a place where people were trying to help her. I don’t know how she managed to stand, but she was standing on her feet, turning from one direction to the other trying to figure out what to do. As she stood there, there were pieces of her face—and I’m not talking about a fleck; I’m talking about a handful of flesh falling to the floor. I saw this; I was so shocked, and it was so jarring to me, that I stood there with tears coming down my face, and just trying to think of a prayer—and what do you pray for this child other than a quick death? It is so stunning.

Now, I know something can happen to one child that is just indescribable, but what I see is an organized effort to simply exterminate the people of Gaza as though they were Untermenschen, they were the under-people, they were the cockroaches of the world. And they aren’t; they are living, breathing brothers and sisters of ours. It is just— I find it indescribable that the government that represents me is a party to this. We provide those 2000-lb. bombs. And I dropped them in Vietnam as a forward air controller; I know what they do, and the impact of those is horrific.

Again, I’m just grateful to you, Dr. Perlmutter, for your courage and all that you’ve done. It’s extremely important.