Iraq Veterans Letter to Bush/Cheney

[SteelersNation36 128]

To: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney

From: Tomas Young

 

I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.

 

I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.

 

I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.

 

Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. You sent us to fight and die in Iraq after you, Mr. Cheney, dodged the draft in Vietnam, and you, Mr. Bush, went AWOL from your National Guard unit. Your cowardice and selfishness were established decades ago. You were not willing to risk yourselves for our nation but you sent hundreds of thousands of young men and women to be sacrificed in a senseless war with no more thought than it takes to put out the garbage.

 

I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. I joined the Army because our country had been attacked. I wanted to strike back at those who had killed some 3,000 of my fellow citizens. I did not join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States. I did not join the Army to “liberate” Iraqis or to shut down mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called “democracy” in Baghdad and the Middle East. I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq’s oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion. I especially did not join the Army to carry out pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war is illegal under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes. The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as the dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences.

 

I would not be writing this letter if I had been wounded fighting in Afghanistan against those forces that carried out the attacks of 9/11. Had I been wounded there I would still be miserable because of my physical deterioration and imminent death, but I would at least have the comfort of knowing that my injuries were a consequence of my own decision to defend the country I love. I would not have to lie in my bed, my body filled with painkillers, my life ebbing away, and deal with the fact that hundreds of thousands of human beings, including children, including myself, were sacrificed by you for little more than the greed of oil companies, for your alliance with the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, and your insane visions of empire.

 

I have, like many other disabled veterans, suffered from the inadequate and often inept care provided by the Veterans Administration. I have, like many other disabled veterans, come to realize that our mental and physical wounds are of no interest to you, perhaps of no interest to any politician. We were used. We were betrayed. And we have been abandoned. You, Mr. Bush, make much pretense of being a Christian. But isn’t lying a sin? Isn’t murder a sin? Aren’t theft and selfish ambition sins? I am not a Christian. But I believe in the Christian ideal. I believe that what you do to the least of your brothers you finally do to yourself, to your own soul.

 

My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.

 

—Tomas Young

 

Here's the link to the letter

[Omerta+ 1,206]

I have yet to be convinced there is any politician that gives a good god damn about soldiers. That goes for most of America as well. People put signs in windows saying we love our vets only to bring in new clientele's. Companies that are "military friendly" wont hire unemployed veterans, the VA jerks us around, we are always the first to bear the brunt of greed and corruption in the country as evidenced not even two weeks ago. This is the same song and dance and it has been since Vietnam.

 

This soldier paid a heavy price and will die a painful and drawn out death. There have been many who have seen unspeakable tragedies. People will pretend they care but it is a mirage. In my personal opinion favor for soldiers began to wane in about 2009. Not to say I am ungrateful for those who do you understand. I just do not operate under the pretense that this country cares anymore. The sad part is, the majority of soldiers will agree. WE are a small community and in general like to stay within that community because of a common bond and understanding of what we have gone through collectively.

 

I am not surprised. It is not Bush alone either, Obama has had his part in it too. Not that they care.

 

I really do feel for this veteran because him and many like him are hung out to dry and feel robbed. That said him and many other veterans would not change anything myself included. I think it is a badge of honor that no matter what happens can not be taken. You have done something most can't. Stuff like this just makes me all the more steadfast in the belief that soldiers are immune to politics.

[seanbrock 1,684]

I have yet to be convinced there is any politician that gives a good god damn about soldiers. That goes for most of America as well. People put signs in windows saying we love our vets only to bring in new clientele's. Companies that are "military friendly" wont hire unemployed veterans, the VA jerks us around, we are always the first to bear the brunt of greed and corruption in the country as evidenced not even two weeks ago. This is the same song and dance and it has been since Vietnam.

 

This soldier paid a heavy price and will die a painful and drawn out death. There have been many who have seen unspeakable tragedies. People will pretend they care but it is a mirage. In my personal opinion favor for soldiers began to wane in about 2009. Not to say I am ungrateful for those who do you understand. I just do not operate under the pretense that this country cares anymore. The sad part is, the majority of soldiers will agree. WE are a small community and in general like to stay within that community because of a common bond and understanding of what we have gone through collectively.

 

I am not surprised. It is not Bush alone either, Obama has had his part in it too. Not that they care.

 

I really do feel for this veteran because him and many like him are hung out to dry and feel robbed. That said him and many other veterans would not change anything myself included. I think it is a badge of honor that no matter what happens can not be taken. You have done something most can't. Stuff like this just makes me all the more steadfast in the belief that soldiers are immune to politics.

Part of the reason why there is such a disconnect between Americans and American soldiers is because there's no more draft. In Vietnam is pretty apparent that it was all poor people fighting the war. Pretty much the only way you weren't drafted was if you were in college(at the time was for rich people) of if you were the soul provider for your family. Everyone had to worry when their number would be called. It effected their lives more. The military and the government now just lies to you and basically say you're set for life. For people who come from poor families who can't afford health care or college it's pretty appealing. Bottom line is poor people are expendable, brown people are expendable, hell, anyone is expendable to a politician whose only concern is reelection and lining their pockets. The draft created a united from amongst people because it effected everyone. People are too busy inside their own world with cable TV and facebook and twitter and instagram to notice what's going on around them. Seems like our role as American citizens these days is to sit back, follow orders, and CONSUME. No room for anything else.

[Omerta+ 1,206]

I just prefer the simple explanation. People dont give a shit lol. Yours works well though.

[Omerta+ 1,206]

Dudes about to die.

 

Link

[NaTaS+ 958]

Dudes about to die.

 

Link

 

 

Damn, that's sad. I couldn't imagine being his place.

 

The way he is choosing to go out --starvation / terminal dehydration-- is going to be absurdly tough. It's hard to appreciate what he's going through and harder to think about how horrible his death is going to be.

 

 

 

 

[Omerta+ 1,206]

Damn, that's sad. I couldn't imagine being his place.

 

The way he is choosing to go out --starvation / terminal dehydration-- is going to be absurdly tough. It's hard to appreciate what he's going through and harder to think about how horrible his death is going to be.

 

I think it would be tough no doubt, but probably no tougher than waking up and living his daily life. At least at the end of it there will be peace.

[Thanatos 2,847]

He shouldn't have to starve himself to death in order to die. That's such a terrible way to go. If he truly wants to go, then give the man an overdose of morphine.

[Omerta+ 1,206]

He shouldn't have to starve himself to death in order to die. That's such a terrible way to go. If he truly wants to go, then give the man an overdose of morphine.

 

Still not sure why that is illegal.

[Thanatos 2,847]

It makes absolutely no sense why its legal to let someone starve themselves to death, but not to give someone an overdose of morphine.

[BwareDWare94 723]

I hope not to offend anyone here, but I feel that there a few points to be made.

 

There are some very simple, basic reasons for the disconnect between soldiers and the American people. One of those reasons is that serving is made a clique by the absurd "same" requirements like buzzing your hair, etc. Soldiers appear different even without their uniform. In today's socially awkward world, people are more likely to approach others who look like themselves. If soldiers weren't required to do certain things with their appearance, our sensitive-as-fuck society would be much more comfortable around them, as a whole. Let me know if this doesn't make sense, because the point is clear in my head but I can't really put it into the correct wording.

 

Second, we desensitize our younger generations with countless war films and games which provide fictitious elements to the concept of war. I am flat out against war games and think that most war movies are pretty damn awful. When you turn violence, particularly violence that includes mortality, into something that isn't necessarily "real" to people not involved with the military, why wouldn't that make kids and people in general take the concept of war less seriously?

 

Not sure if either of those points made sense, but I hope they're at least comprehensible.

[Omerta+ 1,206]

There are some very simple, basic reasons for the disconnect between soldiers and the American people. One of those reasons is that serving is made a clique by the absurd "same" requirements like buzzing your hair, etc. Soldiers appear different even without their uniform. In today's socially awkward world, people are more likely to approach others who look like themselves. If soldiers weren't required to do certain things with their appearance, our sensitive-as-fuck society would be much more comfortable around them, as a whole. Let me know if this doesn't make sense, because the point is clear in my head but I can't really put it into the correct wording.

 

I don't know if it does not make sense so much as I really hope that is not the case. There is so much stupid in acting that way that if anybody personally does that kind of shit, you are a piece of shit in my opinion.

[BwareDWare94 723]

I don't know if it does not make sense so much as I really hope that is not the case. There is so much stupid in acting that way that if anybody personally does that kind of shit, you are a piece of shit in my opinion.

 

Well I have no problem with it because I'm not some socially awkward pansy with no ability to function outside of my own clique, but I'm just saying that our society as a whole is pretty pathetic when it comes to differentiation within social groups, and as you already alluded to, soldiers are the same way--more likely to be around other soldiers.

 

Nearly everybody in our society is metaphorically neutered when it comes to being comfortable around people they deem different from themselves.

[Vin+ 3,121]

What's the endgame here? What does he gain from becoming a martyr? He mentioned in the letter that he's not religious, so I'm guessing he doesn't have an aversion to suicide. So why, then, is he choosing starvation when he's more than likely got much more effective, mainly quicker, methods probably lying around the house?

[RazorStar 4,025]

endgame, he dies and people stop caring.

[Omerta+ 1,206]

endgame, he dies and people stop caring.

 

Pretty much, this is what makes me laugh the most about our society. Oh no not those poor kids in Africa, Kony is an evil man. Oh we support veterans...until it is not cool, This gay rights will die down shortly, Oh my god those Iranians are protesting and being killed in the streets, I must go on youtube so I can change things. It is all a crock of shit.

[OSUViking 505]

That's because most of the supporters of these causes are "clictivists", not actual activists. See, what separates me from people on Facebook is that I actually make contributions to a charity at my school that feeds into Charity: Water. These other people? They like Facebook pages and follow Twitter stories about "just causes" and "sad events", but they don't do anything about it. It's just further proof that we are heading down a path of apathy as we can pretend to show emotion, concern, compassion, and support over social media. Unfortunately, the veterans are being hit pretty hard by this.

[blotsfan 2,112]

I thought about donating but I figure giving you +1 is enough.

[Thanatos 2,847]

Exactly. People do what will allow them to look in the mirror and say "Ya know, I'm a pretty good guy." They don't care about making effective change occur. Just as long as they did something.