Tomas Young, Veteran Author of ‘The Last Letter,’ Dies at 34

Iraq War veteran and activist Tomas Young has died, “Democracy Now” is reporting. There is no word as of this posting about the cause of death.

Young was the author of “The Last Letter,” a message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, published by Truthdig, in which he stated his intention to die. Young, who was in hospice care at the time and required assistance to live, later changed his mind, saying he wanted to spend more time with his wife.

Chris Hedges wrote about Young and worked with him. The columnist wrote, “Young will die for our sins. He will die for a war that should never have been fought. He will die for the lies of politicians. He will die for war profiteers. He will die for the careers of generals. He will die for a cheerleader press. He will die for a complacent public that made war possible. He bore all this upon his body. He was crucified.”

In March 2013, we named Tomas Young our Truthdigger of the Week.

In his seminal work, Young said, “I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.”

He will be missed.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer