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Friday, March 22, 2013

A Letter To George W. Bush And Dick Cheney From A Dying Iraq War Vet

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, 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.

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.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I feel deep sorrow for this young man, he chose to enlist in the military. No one forced him into service. And why is he not condemning Obama who has not only continued the Bush policies but supersized them--not to mention his indiscriminate use of drones to kill people, including women and children? Personally being waterboarded is preferable to being blasted into oblivion by a drone.

Anonymous said...

90% of this country's population, democrats, republican's, member's of congress and our citizens thought this war was the correct choice at the time in the aftermath of 911. All available intelligence indicated wmd's existed. This evidence was available to Congress when they funded this war. Hindsight is certainly 20/20. I feel for every soldier in every conflict our country is involved in, but, to blame this on no one but Bush/Cheney is flat wrong. This was a decision that was made by everyone and I for one am very tired of the scapegoating that has occurred for years,. Be accountable for your own choices!

Anonymous said...

Just what I've been trying to tell you people all along.This article is dead on.I have always voted Republican,but I completely dissaproved of Bush's actions.He was wrong and the war was wrong.No right wing talk show host can legitimately defend his actions.

Anonymous said...

No matter how you feel or what you think this war was not started by just two men, the President & Vice President. I truly feel for your suffering but you must realize that this war was signed off on by most of the polititions as well as almost all of our allies. Even though there were causalties and even loss of life we do need to keep the cancer from spreading by our enemmies from controlling all these nations. Some of those who have fought this war are now saying our current fearless leader pulled all our forces out to soon before the job was completed. May God Bless you for your courage and sacrifice to this wonderful country.

Anonymous said...

There is nothing wrong with torture to get the information you seek. We need to step it up, and do away with the UN, so we have free reign over our targets.

Alex said...

Agree with 12:32, he chose to join the Army.

Anonymous said...

While I feel deep sorrow for this young man, he chose to enlist in the military. No one forced him into service

WOW. How can anyone argue with logic like that?

Anonymous said...

Alex said...
Agree with 12:32, he chose to join the Army.

March 22, 2013 at 1:44 PM

No surprise there. See? You're not alone in the world after all.

Anonymous said...

Watch the documentary on Showtime about Dick Cheney, it is definitely an eye opener. To hear Cheney justify his actions in his own words is chilling.

Anonymous said...

Bottom line when you join the service you should be expected to be called to action at anytime.The military is for one thing that is fighting wars. If you joined thinking it was a sightseeing trip in countrys abroad then you are very stupid.Blame who you want republican or democrat but you are expected to be called to duty. When you do you must fight weather the situation is wrong or right.You and only you joined up so do not blame a polition when you get your ass shot up.

Anonymous said...

Peace be with you, Brother.

lmclain said...

12:46 and some others have apparently not been paying attention to all the TOP GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS of that period (you know, the ones who would actually know the truth about our motivations and reasoning) who say it was a made up war. Made up. As in "contrived". And those cowards (yeah, an apt description) DODGED their duty when it was their turn. Cowards. Both of them. Sniveling cowards.

Anonymous said...

he wasn't drafted.