'I Am Sorry That It Has Come to This': A Soldier's Last Words

[Newsjock]

Source: Gawker

Daniel Somers was a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was part of Task Force Lightning, an intelligence unit. In 2004-2005, he was mainly assigned to a Tactical Human-Intelligence Team (THT) in Baghdad, Iraq, where he ran more than 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in the turret of a Humvee, interviewed countless Iraqis ranging from concerned citizens to community leaders and and government officials, and interrogated dozens of insurgents and terrorist suspects. ... On June 10, 2013, Daniel wrote the following letter to his family before taking his life. Daniel was 30 years old. His wife and family have given permission to publish it.

... The fact is, for as long as I can remember my motivation for getting up every day has been so that you would not have to bury me. As things have continued to get worse, it has become clear that this alone is not a sufficient reason to carry on. The fact is, I am not getting better, I am not going to get better, and I will most certainly deteriorate further as time goes on. From a logical standpoint, it is better to simply end things quickly and let any repercussions from that play out in the short term than to drag things out into the long term.

... You must not blame yourself. The simple truth is this: During my first deployment, I was made to participate in things, the enormity of which is hard to describe. War crimes, crimes against humanity. Though I did not participate willingly, and made what I thought was my best effort to stop these events, there are some things that a person simply can not come back from. I take some pride in that, actually, as to move on in life after being part of such a thing would be the mark of a sociopath in my mind. These things go far beyond what most are even aware of.

To force me to do these things and then participate in the ensuing coverup is more than any government has the right to demand. Then, the same government has turned around and abandoned me. They offer no help, and actively block the pursuit of gaining outside help via their corrupt agents at the DEA. Any blame rests with them.

Read more: http://gawker.com/i-am-sorry-that-it-has-come-to-this-a-soldiers-last-534538357

[Catherina]

1. Another victim of terrorists, the real terrorists. RIP Daniel

How many more of our young people are we going to sacrifice, destroy their lives, their minds, their mental health, for a multi-Trillion dollar war machine that does not serve us?

This letter is so terrible to read. RIP Daniel and thank you for writing it.

No more fallen.

[99th_Monkey]

15. My questions exactly. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. This should be on the front page of every paper

[HardTimes99]

11. Anyone older than 31 who wishes to vote should have to read this first and

sign that he or she has read it before being given any more ballots.

Because, see, if you are 31 or older now, that means you were 18 or older in 2000. You own this solider's death and the thousands of other deaths and injuries among U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians.

Blood pressure rising, so going to STFU before I totally lose it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Hey I am married to one of those vets.

[HardTimes99]

16. I'm sorry. I did not mean 'you' personally. I meant 'you'

rhetorically, to mean 'anyone.'

Actually, I think your suggestion to put it on every front page is a great start. I think it should be rubbed in the faces of every god-damned Republican and Dem who fucking voted for this.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. That is ok. I avoid things like this on my FB page

I mostly use it for local news...this...I posted with no comment.

[PDJane]

3. Gods........and that is why I think that taking the DEA should be simply destroyed.....

to start over with people who will help.

[GeorgeGist]

4. A victim of real sociopaths.

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Newsjock.

[flamingdem]

6. K+R

[Jarla]

7. My heart goes out to his family

And all the other soldiers and their families whom our country has forgotten or ignored.

[Monkie]

8. and the people who send these boys and men to war, they do know their history

they just chose to ignore it, due to greed or psychopathy. may they rot in hell along with their cheer leaders.

r.i.p.

[HardTimes99]

9. I wanted to make some smartass comment about looking forward rather

than backward, but I find I simply cannot.

I want to know why Bush and Cheney are still walking around free men. They are the real war criminals, not this poor soldier.

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. They're still walking around free because Mr. "looking forward rather than backward" has

other more important priorities such as busting mmj dispensaries.

[WinkyDink]

10. I assume he means the murder and rape of civilians, including children.

[HardTimes99]

12. Um, by 'children,' you mean

terrorists disguised as children, right?

[WinkyDink]

36. Yeah. Fidgets.

[yodermon]

35. Murder and rape of civilians is *the point* of war. Throughout the entire history of the human race.

It's always dressed up with lots of justifications, but civilians always suffer, *always*, yet we keep fighting them and shrug and say "collateral damage" etc etc.

Even though wars are supposed to be fought between men, they have equally affected women and children. In most wars, more civilians are killed than soldiers, and, according to UNICEF, "in the wars fought since World War II 90 percent of all victims are found in the civilian population, a large share of them women and children."217 In our imaginations, however, wars are mainly about women and children. Divine wars were always fought for a goddess of war, from Ishtar to Teshub, almost always mothers of the war heroes,218 "crying to be fed...human blood."219 Even the Hebrew Lord counsels Moses to "kill every male among the little ones and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the virgin girls keep alive for yourselves [to rape]."220 Yanomamo war raids might kill a few men in raids, but would abduct all enemy women and rape them.221 Child murder and rape were the center of ancient war. The Greeks often used to rape all virgin girls and boys in wars and often trod all children of a city to death under the feet of oxen or covered them with pitch and burned them alive.222 As van Creveld puts it, "During most of history, the opportunity to engage in wholesale rape was not just among the rewards of successful war but, from the soldier's point of view, one of the cardinal objectives for which he fought."223

http://www.psychohistory.com/htm/eln06_war.html

217. Ruth Seifert, "War and Rape: A Preliminary Analysis." In Alexandra Stiglmayer, Ed., The War Against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993, p. 63.

223. Martin van Creveld, The Transformation of War. New York: The Free Press, 1991, p. 179.

[brer cat]

14. Absolutely heartbreaking.

Those responsible will never read or care about this tortured soul.

[HardTimes99]

18. Those responsible will never care about any damage they have caused. They

view people -- including the many dead and wounded Iraqis -- as mere instruments of their will. History will not judge them kindly.

[Civilization2]

19. Good for him,. War is a racket, and the rich love a rigged game, no cost to high for the people to

bare.

[99th_Monkey]

20. THIS is a bombshell of a letter, and now it's part of the public record.

This letter in itself should compel us to begin powerfully & collectively insisting on the immediate systematic dismantlement of the Military/Prison/Poisoning Industrial/Financial Complex. We can do better than this.

[DLevine]

21. Heartbreaking. nt

[cantbeserious]

22. Too Sad For Words

eom

[1monster]

24. I think that is one of the saddest things I've ever read. And I think any person thinking of

enlisting should be made to read this and then write a essay on it to make sure they understand what is being said.

I always have a hard time supporting the military because the military is used by government for things it was never meant for and then the individual members and all in general are thrown out like yesterdays trash by the same government.

But my soul bleeds for those who lose their souls, their minds, and the use of their bodies because they did join the military for perhaps patriotic, or other innocent reasons.

Godspeed Daniel Somers

[Th1onein]

25. Oh My God

This is so very sad. Poor baby. I wish him peace. I wish all of us peace.

[Agony]

26. "Too trapped in a war to be at peace" ...

This is why War should always be the LAST resort... and if, as a people, we decide that it is that important that we go to war... then each and every one of us should be FULLY engaged in that WAR. There should never be a War where "life goes on like normal" for the rest of us... this is a sickness, the idea that some go "off to war" and the rest of us "go to the movies".

"I am free. I ask that you be happy for me for that. It is perhaps the best break I could have hoped for. Please accept this and be glad for me."

Peace, Daniel.

Agony

[johnnyreb]

27. I have read your words Daniel Somers,

...and I will share them with everyone I can.

[Hekate]

28. Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, and every signer of PNAC: may they rot in Hell.

I wish there were enough justice in this world to let them rot in prison.

[Vinnie From Indy]

29. Heartbreaking!

What have we become?

[cali]

30. my heart is breaking and my stomach is churning.

good night all.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

31. Damn them, just damn them all to hell eom

[malaise]

32. Too sad - Bush, Cheney et al destroyed the planet

[sorefeet]

33. I lame the spineless doctors just

as much as anybody. They DON'T give a fuck. They have very selective hearing. They are there to humor you not help. I call my VA doctor a probation officer. He don't give two fucks about me, his priority is if I can pass a drug test once a fucking year. Doctors are so fucking scared of the DEA and losing their fucking jobs that they don't care who suffers as long as it isn't them. The VA doctor follows policy to the gnats ass and NEVER question it or make waves. I have heard plenty of horror stories from Vets and it isn't no wonder the suicide rate is so high. They are forced to give up and suicide seems the only way out. The VA forces a hopeless feeling on many Vets. I know from personal experience.

[pacalo]

34. This is very heartbreaking & I hung onto every word.

A person who could write these words are not better off dead; we need many more like him:

Though I did not participate willingly, and made what I thought was my best effort to stop these events, there are some things that a person simply can not come back from. I take some pride in that, actually, as to move on in life after being part of such a thing would be the mark of a sociopath in my mind.

The fact is that any kind of ordinary life is an insult to those who died at my hand. How can I possibly go around like everyone else while the widows and orphans I created continue to struggle? If they could see me sitting here in suburbia, in my comfortable home working on some music project they would be outraged, and rightfully so.

With a war-happy government that places money & profit above the welfare of its people, those who serve in the military are perhaps the most used doormats of us all. Military personnel are taught to hate the hippies of the '60s who protested the VietNam war; & to hate those of us today who think for themselves, aren't prone to believe lame propaganda, & who cried the loudest when Bush/Cheney started the Middle East wars over oil & war profits. Who really loves this country -- those who cheered "kiss their ass, take their gas", with no regard for those who would be killed or maimed, or those who were outraged about the immorality of it all?

I grieve for Daniel Somers; he was a good, good man.