Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Dying Iraq War Vet Warns Cheney & Bush Their "Day Of Reckoning" Will Come
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 21, 2013
Modified Mar 21, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 21, 2013
Modified Mar 21, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A dying Army veteran who was paralyzed during the $6 trillion Iraq war has written a devastating letter to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. First published on Truth Dig, the letter from Tomas Young comes on the tenth anniversary of that catastrophic folly, which most halfway-informed observers knew was a terrible idea before it even appeared as a red flashing lightbulb over Don Rumsfeld's lizard head. Too bad the post-9/11 chattering class didn't see it that way, and thus Young was one of hundreds of thousands of soldiers wounded in the ensuing paroxysm of violence.
Over 4,488 soldiers were killed since the war started in March 2003, along with more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians. Young survived, but barely. He was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City, and in recent years his health has deteriorated rapidly. "My life is coming to an end," Young now writes, explaining that he is sending his letter to Bush and Cheney on behalf of all those who were killed and wounded in the war. Young joined the Army two days after 9/11, and explains:
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. 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. I would not have to lie in my bed, my body filled with painkillers, my life ebbing away, and deal with the fact that hundreds of thousands of human beings, including children, including myself, were sacrificed by you for little more than the greed of oil companies, for your alliance with the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, and your insane visions of empire...
I did not join the Army to “liberate” Iraqis or to shut down mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called “democracy” in Baghdad and the Middle East. I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq’s oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion. I especially did not join the Army to carry out pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war is illegal under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes.
The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as the dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences...
My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. 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.
Yeah, we're not holding our breaths on that. (As The Onion headline so perfectly put it, "Bush Says He Still Believes Iraq War Was The Fun Thing To Do.") Read the devastating letter in full here on Truth Dig.
Tagged
dick cheney
george w. bush
Iraq War
tomas young
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
DSA to Mamdani: Fire NYPD commissioner if ICE doesn't leave NYC
The DSA's NYC chapter accused the NYPD of collaborating with ICE and demanded Mayor Mamdani hold Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch responsible.
By
Elizabeth Kim
,
Brigid Bergin
and
Ben Feuerherd
Published Oct 9, 2026 at 6:31 p.m. ET
Two people killed in Bronx vehicle crash
When officers arrived on the scene in Allerton Friday afternoon, they found three pedestrians who were unconscious with trauma to the head and body, according to the NYPD. Two individuals later died.
By
Kaya Laterman
News
Two people killed in Bronx vehicle crash
When officers arrived on the scene in Allerton Friday afternoon, they found three pedestrians who were unconscious with trauma to the head and body, according to the NYPD. Two individuals later died.
By
Kaya Laterman
NY will opt in Trump’s school choice program, Hochul says
By
Jon Campbell
Residents, lawmakers warned for months of potential for deadly ICE activity in Marble Hill
By
David Brand
Manhattan DA argues judge shouldn't dismiss state charges against Luigi Mangione
By
Samantha Max
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .