Dying vet’s ‘fuck you’ letter to Bush&Cheney needs to be read by EVERY American

[Benny B]

Dying vet’s ‘fuck you’ letter to Bush&Cheney needs to be read by every American



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

[dr.chimps]

Read it yesterday. Strong stuff, indeed, but Cheney eats that kind of sentiment for breakfast.   

[Bad Boy Dazza]

Excellent, but he should of added Obama's name also.

[Ronnie Rep]

Excellent, but he should of added Obama's name also.

I fucking hate Cheney! Bush was doing what Pres Cheney told him to do!

[King Shizzo]

Do you want to know the sad truth? He signed up for it. I have long thought that I should have served in the special forces. That does not mean that I would blame other people for what happened. You sign on the dotted line.

[epic_alien]

he volunteered to be a pawn in their game. now he cries about it?

[Raymondo]

Well written, eloquent.

[King Shizzo]

Bush was better then Obama. People say Bush was stupid, but I think stupid is better then having an agenda.

[Roger Bacon]

Sad but true...

[Mattyh7688]

Wow, there is no draft. He signed up, maybe he should have picked up another trade or went to college. I appreciate what the vets do a ton, but a vast majority do it because they have little other plans in life. It is kind of ironic.. There are two groups of guys I knew who signed up, out of the 50 or so military guys I've known personally. A vast majority did not do that well in school and really didn't try much else in life or were doing it for the money/student loan payment... then the other % I knew were some of the smartest guys I have ever met and were actually doing it for their country. These guys could be making 6 figures within 2-3 years out of school, but decided not to.

Either way.. you sign up for it, you know the risks, if you don't like these risks.. then DON'T JOIN.

[King Shizzo]

Hey you're quite stupid yourself so saying Bush was better makes perfect sense.

You like Obama? He is a moron. Probably an illegal plant.

[Mitch]

he volunteered to be a pawn in their game. now he cries about it?

x2. He probably join the army for the easy money he thought he could make. Now that he has been knee deep in the cowpat, he's whining. Why didn't he desert if he really was against this "senseless war".

[tommywishbone]

bush and chenny, the greatest mass murderers so far in the 21st century.  It's still early so they may lose the title, but right now it's theirs.

[Roger Bacon]

I just hope that if hell does exist, the Bush Cheney administration spends some time there.

There should be a place for Obama and Hillary too!

[King Shizzo]

bush and chenny, the greatest mass murderers so far in the 21st century.  It's still early so they may lose the title, but right now it's theirs.

Why? He had to act after 9/11.

[Raymondo]

Why? He had to act after 9/11.

You can't even play the devil's advocate. Fool.

[Roger Bacon]

Why? He had to act after 9/11.

Please, connect the attacks of 9/11 to Iraq for us! 

[tommywishbone]

Why? He had to act after 9/11.

By invading Iraq and killing hundreds of thousands of people that had nothing to do with 9/11?

That's like me killing all of the members of the Portland City Council because Phil beat Kai.

[Raymondo]

[james_hetfield]

How about actually reading the letter. He clearly states that its the Iraq war he is against and he signed up after 9/11 to fight terrorism. Sure he was gullible but it doesn't change the fact that the US shouldnt have been in Iraq.

[El Diablo Blanco]

He volunteered for the army.  No one forced him.  He needs to live by his decisions.  Fucking freeloader.

[King Shizzo]

Its actually quite easy. America, fuck yeah!

[Roger Bacon]

Its actually quite easy. America, fuck yeah!

I can't disagree with you there!

[Raymondo]

He volunteered for the army.  No one forced him.  He needs to live by his decisions.  Fucking freeloader.

People make these decisions under various environmental influences. Peer pressure, media pressure, deception, misinformation, propaganda. He is not entirely responsible for his circumstances, others are as well.

[King Shizzo]

I wish I joined the military. I yearn for proper disipline and order. I could have made special forces.