Dying Iraq Veteran Writes Open Letter to Bush, Cheney on 10th Anniversary of Iraq War

“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,” Young writes.



Young, 25, says he is writing on behalf of other veterans, their families and those who have been wounded or died as a result of the Iraq War.

The letter is filled with strong accusatory language toward Bush and Cheney.

Young says he hopes they will be put on trial for a war he believes is unnecessary and criminal. He goes on to describe the inadequate care he’s received from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“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,” Young writes toward the end of his letter. “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.”

Young joined the U.S. Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. Five days into his deployment in Iraq, the 22-year-old was shot by a sniper in the spine and was paralyzed instantaneously, the Ridgefield Press reports. Since then, he has suffered from numerous medical setbacks.

Young was recently featured in the award-winning documentary “Body of War.” The film follows Young on his journey home, coping with his disability and finding a voice as an anti-war activist.

During a screening held last month in Connecticut, Young told the audience via Skype that he decided to end his life. Young said he plans to stop taking his nourishment and life-extending medications, the Ridgefield Press reports.

“It’s time,” he said. “When I go I want be alert and aware.”

Since the Iraq War began, 4,488 U.S. service members have been killed and more than 32,000 have been wounded, according to ABC News.

Bush, Cheyney, and anyone who was involved in selling this war to the american people are gulity of war crimes

special inspector general for iraq reconstruction stuart bowen made his final report to congress to 'celebrate' our anniversary, and he was pretty clear about whether or not any mission was accomplished... he said "not enough was accomplished for the size of the funds expended".

Thats a shocker...

Overall the U.S. has spent in 10 years.... wait for it.... 767 Billion dollars!

that translates to over 200 million dollars a day!!!

200 million dollars a day trying to make a country in the middle east be our slave.

Here we are squabbling over providing our own citizens healthcare, retirement income, and basic necessities but for the past 10 years we've been spending 200 million dollars a day in Iraq!

And the worst part is, Iraq is no where near being our slave, we did not spread peace and democracy, nor did we spread freedom, and we certainly didn't bring stability to the region unless you count depleted uranium as stability. Weren't they supposed to be the one's with wmd's? And yet we are the one's who left depleted uranium all over the place and still haven't cleaned it up?

Iraq has bombings on a daily basis, government corruption all over the place, over 1/4th live in poverty, electricity and clean water are not available to a growing percentage of the population....

So where exactly did the 200 million dollars a day go?

Here are a few examples...

We began building a prison in 2004 but abandoned it because of violence around it... that cost us 40 million and still sits in rubble with no plans on being finished.

We blew up a bridge during the invasion, severing an oil and gas pipeline. Despite a geological study saying that building a new pipeline wouldn't work, we wen't ahead and tried to build it anyway... because the Iraq war wasn't truly about oil or stealing natural resouces, we would never do such a thing (sarcasm).... we spent 75 million making it, and another 29 million when it failed, just like the study said it would.

We also spent 10's of millions of dollars on kickbacks and other fraudulent activities that resulted in the criminal convictions of 22 people, because of course there is going to be fraud when milions of dollars are being spent overseas with heaps of bureaucracy to cover up where everything is going...

Im the one that greened you but my response got deleted somehow

i didn't delete it didn't even see it

was ust talking about the oil stuff and how we really could have stole Iraqs oil and paid for the war but we didnt.

Even donald Trump suggested at CPAC that we go back and take the oil to pay ourselves back lol