[News] An Epidemic of Military Suicides

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/28/an-epidemic-of-military-suicides/

Weekend Edition June 28-30, 2013
The Latest Victim of America's War Crimes


  An Epidemic of Military Suicides

by TOM McNAMARA

    Box me up and ship me home

    Pin my medals upon my chest

    Tell my mom I've done my best

    - Marine Corps Cadence

/Rennes, France./

On June 10th of this year, Daniel Somers, a veteran of more than 400 
combat missions in Iraq, killed himself. One more name to be added to 
the list of US veterans who have committed suicide.

It's a very long list.  And it is growing at an astonishing rate. Just 
about every single hour, of every single day, another name gets added to 
it. What America's enemies could not accomplish in hostile zones, 
American society appears to be able to do with complete abandon; 
facilitate the death of US soldiers.

It's quite an impressive accomplishment when one thinks about it, 
really. In 2012, the number of active duty soldiers who killed 
themselves was greater than the number killed in combat (about every 
other day a US soldier committed suicide). The same was true for 2011.

The family of Daniel Somers agreed to make his suicide note public. It 
can be found here 
<http://gawker.com/i-am-sorry-that-it-has-come-to-this-a-soldiers-last-534538357>.

In his final letter Mr. Somers says that he "was made to participate in 
things, the enormity of which is hard to describe. War crimes, crimes 
against humanity." He says that to return to society and to "move on in 
life after being part of such a thing would be the mark of a sociopath" 
in his mind.

He goes on to talk of being sick and injured, and of having been 
abandoned by his government in his time of need. Furthermore, he tells 
us that he is fully aware of the crisis currently going on in the US 
with regards to veteran suicides, citing the statistic that the number 
of veterans who kill themselves per day is greater than the number of 
children killed at Sandy Hook in Connecticut.

Think about that for a minute. The suicide epidemic among US soldiers 
and veterans is the equivalent of one Sandy Hook massacre every single day.

Finally, Mr. Somers talks of the freedom and peace that suicide will 
bring him, no longer having to be subjected to the pain, nightmares, 
flashbacks or hallucinations caused by what he saw and took part in Iraq.

It has been estimated that 655,000 Iraqis have died as a direct result 
of the US led invasion of 2003. According to the principles put forth at 
the Nüremberg War Crimes Tribunal and the founding charter of the United 
Nations this is clearly a war crime that borders on being a crime 
against humanity. The war in Afghanistan and America's use of targeted 
drone strikes (in what can only be described as a terror campaign) can 
also be considered as war crimes.

One lowly US soldier found it impossible to live with himself due to his 
perceived complicity in America's war crimes.

How President George Bush and President Barack Obama can 
unapologetically live their lives knowing the deeds they have 
engineered, committed and are responsible for is unconscionable.

Tonight President Bush and President Obama will sleep quietly in their 
beds. If we lived in a correct and just society they would be on trial.

For murder.

*Tom McNamara* is an Assistant Professor at the ESC Rennes School of 
Business, France, and a former Visiting Lecturer at the French National 
Military Academy at Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan, France.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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