“These things go far beyond what most are even aware of”
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
June 24, 2013
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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