Iraq veteran wants to die but left out of political twisted comments

When people were taking sides, men like Tomas were standing by the side of the others sent into Afghanistan and Iraq. When some called them heroes one day, then traitors the day after they spoke out about why they were sent into combat. It turns out that while we got hot and heavy on the debate, most of us didn't notice the most important lesson of all. Even though some of them thought the war in Iraq was wrong, they were still risking their lives, not for the cause, not for the reasons given for it, but risking their lives for one another.

No matter what side of the debate you're on, no matter if you have finally come to the conclusion the invasion of Iraq was wrong, there should be no reason for you or anyone to ignore what these men and women went through and are still going through be because this nation asked them to.
UPDATE
Hear Tomas Young
What the hell is wrong with some people? I went through 4 pages of comments before I couldn't stand reading them anymore. As of 8:03 this morning it has been shared 7,894 times on Facebook and 12,414 comments were left. There is nothing new in what this disabled veteran wrote except he wants to die. Did that enter into anyone's mind?

People on the left were talking about how Bush and Cheney got it wrong on purpose. People on the right were defending them. In the middle is this Iraq veteran wanting to die more than he wants to live but he has been forgotten about even though the letter came from him.

Tomas Young, Dying Iraq War Veteran, Pens 'Last Letter' To Bush, Cheney On War's 10th Anniversary
The Huffington Post
By Nick Wing
Posted: 03/19/2013

“I made the decision to go on hospice care, to stop feeding and fade away," he said. "This way, instead of committing the conventional suicide and I am out of the picture, people have a way to stop by or call and say their goodbyes. I felt this was a fairer way to treat people than to just go out with a note."

Days after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Tomas Young, then a 22-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., made a decision repeated by many other Americans around the country: He was going to enlist in the military in hopes of getting even with the enemies who had helped coordinate the deaths of nearly 3,000 men, women and children.

Less than three years later, Young's Army service placed him not in Afghanistan -- where then-President George W. Bush had told the nation the terrorist plot had originated -- but in Iraq. On April 4, 2004, just five days into his first tour, Young's convoy was attacked by insurgents. A bullet from an AK-47 severed his spine. Another struck his knee. Young would never walk again, and in fact, for the next nearly nine years, he would suffer a number of medical setbacks that allowed him to survive only with the help of extensive medical procedures and the care of his wife, Claudia.
read more here

That's the problem with wars. Politicians take sides. They are supposed to. Some will just support the decision while others actually ask questions to make sure it is necessary. Reporters are supposed to state facts so the people are made aware of everything that is involved in the decision to go to war. The people are supposed to take it seriously enough to learn the facts. Everyone in this country failed the men and women like Tomas Young just as they failed every other generation that went before them.

Twisted patriotism leaves the humans out. The men and women we send should matter more than political sides but we forgot that. Most of the people in this country say they are fed up with everything being so political that nothing makes sense anymore. Tomas Young's letter proved that. Instead of talking about what can be done to make him decide to live, ease his pain and suffering, everyone seems to just avoid talking about him so they can talk about their political views. It is disgusting!

Evidence shows Bush wanted to invade Iraq. No shocker there. Evidence also shows that his administration didn't care about the wounded coming back from Iraq any more than he cared about them coming home from Afghanistan. Take a look at the budgets in the 8 years he was President. Then take a look at what congress had no trouble funding and what they said we didn't have the money for. Both wars were important enough to send 2 million+ but not important enough to pay for or even put in the budget? But here's the real kicker. This was not the first administration to pull that crap on our troops and unless we open our eyes, they won't be the last.

Vietnam veterans always suspected the war was dragged out and now they know for sure with the release of the tapes President Johnson had of Nixon talking to the Ambassador of South Vietnam to prolong the war at least until the election.

In the summer of 1968, the Paris peace talks were under way, working to find a diplomatic solution to the Vietnam War. While the talks seemed to be going well, by October, South Vietnam had dropped out, just as Johnson was about to negotiate an end to all bombings in North Vietnam. The Democratic nominee, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, belatedly called for a bombing halt, and closed the gap with Nixon in the final days.

Johnson said he couldn't release the tapes because they were obtained with an illegal wiretap.

Look back into the history of this country and the lies behind the wars. This is not new because we didn't care enough about the men and women we sent. After all, they were willing to risk their lives so who cares? Isn't that what this all boils down to? What about the ones drafted and forced to go? Do we have the same excuse for them?

Here's a clue from the sane people in this country. No politician is always right or wrong. They get some things right and some things wrong. Real Republican politicians sold their souls a long time ago and so did real Democratic politicians. None of them live up to what the founding fathers thought they were leaving behind. None of them lived up to what Washington thought he taught them about taking care of those they would send into combat.

All members of the military are not Republicans. All of them are not Democrats. Yet in combat, none of that matters because all of them will die for each other even though they are not all the same.

Tomas Young wants to die but says physically he cannot commit suicide. So he is willing to die a slow death but that doesn't matter to the majority of people leaving comments when their political egos are involved. Shame on them and shame on us for forgetting what we owe all of them we send to into war.