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...

Could have been a letter written during Vietnam. Next time we Americans see saber rattling by chicken hawk politicians that have hollow reasons for war, I hope we get a little louder in saying, "NO!"

I would like to see the village idiot out of Texas reply to this letter.

Could have been a letter written during Vietnam. Next time we Americans see saber rattling by chicken hawk politicians that have hollow reasons for war, I hope we get a little louder in saying, "NO!"

You already have.

Popular support for the war hit an all time low during the Bush administration. Through polls, surveys, and the occasional mass protest, the sweeping majority of Americans were against the war in Iraq, but our government simply chose to ignore our will on the matter. Given that we've pretty much exhausted our means to peacefully object to the actions of our government, what option(s) do we have?

How do we say "no" any louder without it resulting in bloodshed?

The military industrial complex is the root of many evils, namely the continuation of our presence in the Middle East.

Except that Congress voted in favor of the war. The letter should be addressed to all who voted for it, not just Bush-Cheney.

yup yup, i usually wouldn't say the president is 100% at fault but in this case the village idiot from texas should get a good chunk of the blame. Presidents can veto the bill but the main reason i put this on him is for his north korea propaganda style fear tactics.

touching letter.
fighting a war against a group of people who embrace death.

You do realize many of our soldiers believe in a Heaven and look forward to it?

That's not quite the same thing as Martyrdom though

That's not quite the same thing as Martyrdom though

I'm pretty sure everytime a soldier is killed he "died for his country."

Pretty sure that's martyrdom. I realize martyrdom is mostly used in relation to dying for a religion but it's certainly applicable.