Iraq Vet Kills Himself After Being Ordered to Commit “War Crimes”
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
June 24, 2013
Daniel Somers. Image: Facebook
Iraq war veteran Daniel Somers committed suicide
following an arduous battle with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
that was caused by his role in committing “crimes against humanity,”
according to the soldier’s suicide note.
Somers was assigned to a Tactical Human-Intelligence
Team (THT) in Baghdad which saw him involved in more than 400 combat
missions as a machine gunner in the turret of a Humvee, in addition to
his role in conducting interrogations.
Somers’ suicide note is a powerful indictment of the
invasion of Iraq and how it ruined the lives of both countless millions
of Iraqis as well as innumerable US troops sent in to do the dirty work
of the military-industrial complex.
“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,” wrote Somers. “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.”
Somers also complains about how he was forced to “participate in the ensuing coverup” of such crimes.
Somers’ death serves to refocus attention on the fact
that military veterans are committing suicide in droves after being
afflicted with PTSD as a direct result of committing atrocities while in
combat.
As Somers highlights in his note, 22 military veterans commit suicide every single day.
Amongst active-duty soldiers, more than one a day commit suicide, a
figure that surpassed the number of US troops killed in combat in
Afghanistan.
“And according to some experts, the military may be
undercounting the problem because of the way it calculates its suicide
rate,” reports the New York Times, adding that experts cannot understand “the root causes of why military suicide is rising so fast.”
However, the root causes are laid bare in Somers’
suicide note. US troops are being ordered to commit atrocities so vile
that the only way many of them can cope with the horror of what they
have done is by killing themselves.
Examples of atrocities aided directly or indirectly by US troops in Iraq include;
- Orders to slaughter “all military age men” during some operations;
- Torturing detainees – many of whom had never engaged in combat and were totally innocent - at grisly prison camps across the country;
- Raping and torturing children at the infamous Abu Ghraib detention facility while they shrieked in terror. Women forced to watch later begged to be killed.
- Sodomizing detainees with chemical lights and broom sticks;
- Indiscriminately firing upon and killing journalists and children from the air;
- Massacring entire groups of unarmed Iraqis, including children and the elderly in Hadith.
“This is what brought me to my actual final mission. Not
suicide, but a mercy killing,” wrote Somers, adding that him living
“any kind of ordinary life is an insult to those who died at my hand.”
Read Somers’ full suicide note below, obtained by Gawker and published with his family’s permission.
———————————————————–
I am sorry that it has come to this.
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 will perhaps be sad for a time, but over time you
will forget and begin to carry on. Far better that than to inflict my
growing misery upon you for years and decades to come, dragging you down
with me. It is because I love you that I can not do this to you. You
will come to see that it is a far better thing as one day after another
passes during which you do not have to worry about me or even give me a
second thought. You will find that your world is better without me in
it.
I really have been trying to hang on, for more than a
decade now. Each day has been a testament to the extent to which I
cared, suffering unspeakable horror as quietly as possible so that you
could feel as though I was still here for you. In truth, I was nothing
more than a prop, filling space so that my absence would not be noted.
In truth, I have already been absent for a long, long time.
My body has become nothing but a cage, a source of pain
and constant problems. The illness I have has caused me pain that not
even the strongest medicines could dull, and there is no cure. All day,
every day a screaming agony in every nerve ending in my body. It is
nothing short of torture. My mind is a wasteland, filled with visions of
incredible horror, unceasing depression, and crippling anxiety, even
with all of the medications the doctors dare give. Simple things that
everyone else takes for granted are nearly impossible for me. I can not
laugh or cry. I can barely leave the house. I derive no pleasure from
any activity. Everything simply comes down to passing time until I can
sleep again. Now, to sleep forever seems to be the most merciful thing.
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.
Beyond that, there are the host of physical illnesses
that have struck me down again and again, for which they also offer no
help. There might be some progress by now if they had not spent nearly
twenty years denying the illness that I and so many others were exposed
to. Further complicating matters is the repeated and severe brain
injuries to which I was subjected, which they also seem to be expending
no effort into understanding. What is known is that each of these should
have been cause enough for immediate medical attention, which was not
rendered.
Lastly, the DEA enters the picture again as they have
now managed to create such a culture of fear in the medical community
that doctors are too scared to even take the necessary steps to control
the symptoms. All under the guise of a completely manufactured
“overprescribing epidemic,” which stands in stark relief to all of the
legitimate research, which shows the opposite to be true. Perhaps, with
the right medication at the right doses, I could have bought a couple of
decent years, but even that is too much to ask from a regime built upon
the idea that suffering is noble and relief is just for the weak.
However, when the challenges facing a person are already
so great that all but the weakest would give up, these extra factors
are enough to push a person over the edge.
Is it any wonder then that the latest figures show 22
veterans killing themselves each day? That is more veterans than
children killed at Sandy Hook, every single day. Where are the huge
policy initiatives? Why isn’t the president standing with those families
at the state of the union? Perhaps because we were not killed by a
single lunatic, but rather by his own system of dehumanization, neglect,
and indifference.
It leaves us to where all we have to look forward to is
constant pain, misery, poverty, and dishonor. I assure you that, when
the numbers do finally drop, it will merely be because those who were
pushed the farthest are all already dead.
And for what? Bush’s religious lunacy? Cheney’s ever
growing fortune and that of his corporate friends? Is this what we
destroy lives for?
Since then, I have tried everything to fill the void. I
tried to move into a position of greater power and influence to try and
right some of the wrongs. I deployed again, where I put a huge emphasis
on saving lives. The fact of the matter, though, is that any new lives
saved do not replace those who were murdered. It is an exercise in
futility.
Then, I pursued replacing destruction with creation. For
a time this provided a distraction, but it could not last. 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.
I thought perhaps I could make some headway with this
film project, maybe even directly appealing to those I had wronged and
exposing a greater truth, but that is also now being taken away from me.
I fear that, just as with everything else that requires the involvement
of people who can not understand by virtue of never having been there,
it is going to fall apart as careers get in the way.
The last thought that has occurred to me is one of some
kind of final mission. It is true that I have found that I am capable of
finding some kind of reprieve by doing things that are worthwhile on
the scale of life and death. While it is a nice thought to consider
doing some good with my skills, experience, and killer instinct, the
truth is that it isn’t realistic. First, there are the logistics of
financing and equipping my own operation, then there is the near
certainty of a grisly death, international incidents, and being branded a
terrorist in the media that would follow. What is really stopping me,
though, is that I simply am too sick to be effective in the field
anymore. That, too, has been taken from me.
Thus, I am left with basically nothing. Too trapped in a
war to be at peace, too damaged to be at war. Abandoned by those who
would take the easy route, and a liability to those who stick it out—and
thus deserve better. So you see, not only am I better off dead, but the
world is better without me in it.
This is what brought me to my actual final mission. Not
suicide, but a mercy killing. I know how to kill, and I know how to do
it so that there is no pain whatsoever. It was quick, and I did not
suffer. And above all, now I am free. I feel no more pain. I have no
more nightmares or flashbacks or hallucinations. I am no longer
constantly depressed or afraid or worried
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.
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