A Dying Vet's Last Letter

Crossposted At An Angry Dakota Democrat.

He is angry and has every right to be. From Truthdig:

A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran

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.

I agree with Tomas Young about the former President and Vice-President. I will mourn Tomas Young when I hear that he has died. I already mourn those brave people who died in Iraq and what I think was the personal vendetta that George W. Bush settled with that invasion of a sovereign nation.

Irony of Ironies in the Gun Control Debate

"American Sniper" author Chris Kyle shot dead in Texas

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21313208

(STORY: 3 Feb 2013 -- Iraq veteran and ex-US Navy seal Chris Kyle, known as the deadliest sniper in US history, has been shot dead on a Texas shooting range, reports say. His body was found at Rough Creek Lodge range on Saturday with that of another man. Mr. Kyle, 38, wrote the 2012 bestseller "American Sniper," about the psychology of a sniper, in which he said that he had killed more than 250 people.)

I find this story ironic (and apropos) because I'm currently in a fairly intense FB "discussion" on the topic of gun control (not your discussion, Lawrence Ross, another one). My friend's point is--guns, themselves, are not inherently evil (I agree), they have a constructive utility and they shouldn't be demonized as merely tools of destruction (I disagree). One of the ironies of this story is Mr. Kyle, the victim, made a prolific, unashamed living with a gun, justifiably killing people (a LOT of people) in
combat, and while in the act of using his gun, presumably for recreation (on a shooting range), he's murdered by a man using that same recreational "tool."

The opponents of my viewpoint will likely NOW argue that the perpetrator was a criminal--an example that more gun control is superfluous and doesn't prevent any kind of crime...or rage, or suicide, or accidents. Maybe he's right, but I'd give you 10 to 1 odds that before Chris Kyle's killer pulled the trigger and made himself a murderer, he was an otherwise law-abiding, accountable, licensed, and trained gun owner--the model of the kind of responsible owner that we paranoid "gun controlist" shouldn't be concerned about. It's the "other guy"--the criminal, that should worry us.
It's ironic (and perhaps convenient to the "right's" argument) that the people who commit these kinds of gun crimes aren't themselves criminals UNTIL they unlawfully pull the trigger! This guy became the "other guy!"

I was once told that gun control is not about the gun, it's about the "control." (Uh, yeah--isn't that the point?) It's perpetually argued that we (America) need [more] guns to protect us from the kind of people who murdered Mr. Kyle. I find it disconcertingly tragic that Chris, finding himself on a shooting range, presumably armed with his own gun, wasn't able to prove that theory right. I wonder if they'll now hire armed guards to guard shooting ranges! How ironic!

I agree with the NRA: Guns don't kill people; people kill people....with guns!

NRA

Other than the fact this little picture doesn't address the line in the Second Amendment that says "the people," meaning a plurality not the individual, this hits home pretty well.

A Short Thought On A Sad Fact

Fact:  60% of College Graduates Do Not Read A Book A Year After Graduating.

How is it that the older generations of Americans say that society is dumbing down?  Easy.  The fact above is one of the ways that it is.  Imagine reading "The Grapes of Wrath" instead of watching the movie.  You might actually have to use your imagination instead of having the picture painted for you.  That use of your imagination could spark another idea or thought that leads to discovery.  Instead we are sloth-like in our habits of allowing others to show us their ideas and thoughts instead of having our own.

A Reflection on the 2012 Presidential Election

This being Veterans Day, I'd like to share one of my favorite Marine Corps boot camp stories. On the third day, we were introduced to our Drill Instructors. The recruits sat on the floor with their knees in their chests, eyeballs glued to the drill instructors as they introduced themselves, one by one. One guy, a Sergeant, came out and started talking about how, in the Marine Corps, there were no "black" Marines, or "white" Marines--we were all just MARINES! This was 1980, the country still identified itself along race lines on many topics--the Supreme Court's Bakke decision was still fresh on everyone's tongue. I'm thinking: "Wow, this is great! No distinctions, no prejudice, just a bunch of Marines! Great!" Then the next thing from his lips was: "We're just 'light-green' Marines and 'dark-green' Marines!"   (SMH!!)   Oh well, so much for that experiment!

I wrote earlier that on Election Day, it took close to four hours to cast my ballot, the longest I've ever taken to vote in any Presidential election I've participated in. Right after the balloting, I posted a few observations from my "eternity" standing in the polling line--some were sincere, some are kinda snarky.

When we got home (a little after 10:00 p.m.), my wife and I didn't have to wait long for the election results, "Uncle Baama" (as one little kid, waiting in line with his dad, kept referring to President Obama) had won easily. In the days prior to November 6, many of my Black friends would send email messages and Facebook pokes about the importance of voting, and often included video clips or photos reminding folks my age (55+) of the dark days of segregation and the fight for voter rights in the South. The emails would be very blunt about how important it was to vote in this election (re-electing Obama) because the "fear" or implied "threat" was we (Blacks) would be forced, by hooded (and un-hooded) thugs, back down the road to the good old days of Sheriff Bull Connor's fire hoses and police dogs, tear gas, warrantless arrests, church bombings, picnic lynchings, and out right murder! The implication was, as Blacks, we had an OBLIGATION to vote to prevent American from again sinking into that abyss. Quite frankly, I was a little offended by the heavy-handed imagery of those messages, mainly because I'm convinced that America has long ago turned the corner on that kind of overt, blatant, institutionalized racial prejudice, bigotry, and race hatred.  I want to believe we are past that.  Sure, there are individuals out there who will always think in those terms, but that's not the majority of Americans, and I did not believe that's where Romney or the GOP were trying to take us this year.   There was no need for concern that if you didn't vote for Obama in 2012, that America would backslide to its days of apartheid.

But I'll be damned if, during the coverage of the election results, many news anchors, guests, and so-called "political experts" (especially on Fox News) weren't actually blaming Romney's loss on race! These people were actually upset that "minorities" had the temerity and the gall vote in the manner and number that they did! I couldn't believe my ears that by voting, we (minorities) were to "blame" for Romney's loss. These clowns were saying crap like:

      - "...the white establishment is now the minority..."

      - "...it's not a 'traditional' America anymore..."

      - "...this is the new America; this isn't your father's America anymore..."

WTF!!   I could not believe I was hearing this!!  Is this America?!?   The thing that saddened and (and pissed me off) the most is the fact that when I look back on it in retrospect, both sides willfully played the race card. It seems no matter what we do or say as a nation, in the end, it all comes down to race! (damnit...) When the heat is turned up, someone's going to shout or whisper or insinuate the "N" word, or the "C" word, or the "S" word, or the "J" word.  The funny thing is, when I was standing in that voting line, there was one other thing I observed that didn't impress me enough to note, and that was the colors of the people standing around me. I was surrounded by people of all colors, races, nationalities, languages, and creeds--a nice "stew" of Americanism.  To keep my legs from going numb, I walked up and down the line just watching folks with my ears falling on this or that conversation. There were whites, blacks, Indians, Asians, Hispanics (or is that "Latinos?"), Arabs, a Russian couple, Africans--it just seemed like "people" to me. It never dawned on me that we were still "black and white" and "minorities and majorities." After listening to the jerks on Fox News, I don't think I want to see a "traditional" America again, but I guess we are "light-green" and "dark-green" Americans.

 

Pity!

An Example Of Why I Am Not A Republican

The following picture is from a member of the Romney Clan.  And I hope that whoever thinks that this is appropriate burns in hell for using our Ambassador's death in a politically crass usage such as this:

Ronna Romney, I hope that you never have to bury someone close to you because they are murdered.  This is because you might decide that you need more blood and use their death for political purposes or you just decide that you like the taste of it, sort of like Dracula.  I have both middle fingers up to the Republican Party for shit like this!

Uncle Billy World Tour

We need a whole lot more of this, and that's definitely the collective we:

Wouldn't it have been wonderful (screw being worried about not seeming Presidential) if President Obama had done this to the Supreme Flipflopper during the debate? Yup, wonderful indeed!