Posted on Jul\u00a02,\u00a02013<\/h4>\n\n<\/p>\nBy Ralph Nader<\/b><\/p>\n
The following first appeared on Ralph Nader\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n\u201cI am sorry that it has come to this.\u201d Thus began the searing suicide note by 30-year-old Iraq War veteran, Daniel Somers on June 10, 2013 to his wife and family.<\/p>\n
On the other side of the violent divide are video messages from the suicide bombers \u2014 the oft-described \u201cweapon of the weak\u201d against U.S. soldiers and their presumed local collaborators.<\/p>\n
In 2012 suicide by active duty American soldiers exceeded the number of U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan. Why?<\/p>\n
In the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, young natives are lining up to become suicide bombers. Why?<\/p>\n
For the soldiers\u2019 conditions, there is an acronym \u2014 PTSD or post-traumatic stress syndrome. During World War I, it used to be called \u201cshell-shock.\u201d But in the Afghan and Iraq regions, the adversaries are not modern armies armed with \u201cshells \u2014 they have no thunderous artillery, missiles, gunships, tanks fighter planes or drones. They have rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and suicide belts sporadically used. Something else is at work that is causing PTSD.<\/p>\n
War correspondent and author, Kevin Sites offers this explanation: \u201cOur understanding of PTSD from a clinical perspective has been that it\u2019s triggered by witnessing a traumatic event that resonates so deeply that it prevents a person from leading a normal life in the aftermath. And so it is the witnessing of the event that causes the problems\u2026. The Veterans Administration (VA) started looking at the connection between killing and post-traumatic stress and found that those soldiers who were involved in killings or who witnessed killings were experiencing a higher degree of post-traumatic stress disorder\u2026 it was about the feelings of guilt they had about what they did or witnessed. And the guilt stemmed from two things: the guilt from killing, whether justified in the line of duty or killing a civilian by accident or killing one of your own guys by accident or killing in a war crime \u2013 so any kind of killing; the second point was surviving, survivor\u2019s guilt. Their friends died, but they didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
The VA distilled thousands of interviews in their 2009 report, Moral Injury in the Context of War, to come to their assessment. (See: http:\/\/www.ptsd.va.gov\/professional\/pages\/moral_injury_at_war.asp)<\/p>\n
Mr. Sites came to the same judgment after his many profiles of returning veterans. In an interview with the Northwestern Alumni Magazine, he said \u201cwhen we do something that goes against our moral compass \u2014 and killing goes against a lot of moral compasses out there \u2014 unless you\u2019re a sociopath \u2014 we do feel some empathy\u2026. So that idea of participation in something that goes against your moral compass really screws you up. It makes you feel bad, makes you feel guilt and shame.\u201d<\/p>\n
But soldiers aren\u2019t supposed to talk about these feelings and don\u2019t, which is why Sites titled his new book The Things They Cannot Say: Stories Soldiers Won\u2019t Tell You About What They\u2019ve Seen, Done or Failed to Do in War (Harper Perennial).<\/p>\n
The fact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were so one-sided in weaponry and so full of casualties of innocent civilians, including children, who never threatened our country, exacerbates these feelings of guilt.<\/p>\n
This trauma coursed through the lengthy suicide letter of Daniel Somers who ran more than 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in Iraq during 2004-2005 and later worked with JSOC \u2014 Joint Special Operations Command \u2014 in Mosul, Iraq.<\/p>\n
He writes \u201cto sleep forever seems to be the most merciful thing\u2026 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\u2026. To force me to do these things and then participate in the ensuing cover-up is more than any government has the right to demand.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Daniel Somers\u2019 final message he asks: \u201cAnd for what? Bush\u2019s religious lunacy? Cheney\u2019s ever growing fortune and that of his corporate friends? Is this what we destroy lives for?\u201d<\/p>\n
As for what he called his \u201cactual final mission,\u201d he wrote: \u201cNot suicide, but a mercy killing\u2026. It was quick, and I did not suffer. And above all, now I am free\u2026. I have no more nightmares or flashbacks or hallucinations.\u201d<\/p>\n
What of the young suicide bombers who are depicted in their videos as wanting to become martyrs? Western reporters like to say their motivation is to go the Islamic paradise. That is not what University of Chicago professor, Robert Pape found in his extensive research, concluding that their principal motivation was to expel the occupying invader.<\/p>\n
Their immense poverty, war-torn devastation of their villages and tribal areas, and the absence of any future, whether of economic survival or personal achievements, was probably also in the mix. Perhaps some money was given to their destitute families in exchange for their attacks.<\/p>\n
Whatever the reasons, to dismiss these fighters as sociopaths is to help preclude our own examination of why we are there blowing apart their societies, provoking sectarian revenge cycles, bribing our way everywhere with crates of $100 bills. As a Yemeni villager plaintively asked, after a devastating drone attack that killed many civilians, \u201cwhy do you hate us so much?\u201d<\/p>\n
Here in the U.S. we better start understanding the rising tide of suicides generally. The Centers for Disease Control totals suicides in 2010 at 38,364 Americans as compared with homicides totaling 16,259. Among the baby boomers, suicides are sharply higher than previous generations, especially since the onset of the recession, unemployment and home foreclosures.<\/p>\n
We better starting digging more deeply into the conditioning \u201cwhys?\u201d and discounting the traditional explanations of self-hatred and hating us \u201cfor our freedoms.\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/images\/eartothegrounduploads\/shutterstock_136952927_copy.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
By Ralph Nader<\/b><\/p>\n
The following first appeared on Ralph Nader\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cI am sorry that it has come to this.\u201d Thus began the searing suicide note by 30-year-old Iraq War veteran, Daniel Somers on June 10, 2013 to his wife and family.<\/p>\n On the other side of the violent divide are video messages from the suicide bombers \u2014 the oft-described \u201cweapon of the weak\u201d against U.S. soldiers and their presumed local collaborators.<\/p>\n In 2012 suicide by active duty American soldiers exceeded the number of U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan. Why?<\/p>\n In the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, young natives are lining up to become suicide bombers. Why?<\/p>\n For the soldiers\u2019 conditions, there is an acronym \u2014 PTSD or post-traumatic stress syndrome. During World War I, it used to be called \u201cshell-shock.\u201d But in the Afghan and Iraq regions, the adversaries are not modern armies armed with \u201cshells \u2014 they have no thunderous artillery, missiles, gunships, tanks fighter planes or drones. They have rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and suicide belts sporadically used. Something else is at work that is causing PTSD.<\/p>\n War correspondent and author, Kevin Sites offers this explanation: \u201cOur understanding of PTSD from a clinical perspective has been that it\u2019s triggered by witnessing a traumatic event that resonates so deeply that it prevents a person from leading a normal life in the aftermath. And so it is the witnessing of the event that causes the problems\u2026. The Veterans Administration (VA) started looking at the connection between killing and post-traumatic stress and found that those soldiers who were involved in killings or who witnessed killings were experiencing a higher degree of post-traumatic stress disorder\u2026 it was about the feelings of guilt they had about what they did or witnessed. And the guilt stemmed from two things: the guilt from killing, whether justified in the line of duty or killing a civilian by accident or killing one of your own guys by accident or killing in a war crime \u2013 so any kind of killing; the second point was surviving, survivor\u2019s guilt. Their friends died, but they didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n The VA distilled thousands of interviews in their 2009 report, Moral Injury in the Context of War, to come to their assessment. (See: http:\/\/www.ptsd.va.gov\/professional\/pages\/moral_injury_at_war.asp)<\/p>\n Mr. Sites came to the same judgment after his many profiles of returning veterans. In an interview with the Northwestern Alumni Magazine, he said \u201cwhen we do something that goes against our moral compass \u2014 and killing goes against a lot of moral compasses out there \u2014 unless you\u2019re a sociopath \u2014 we do feel some empathy\u2026. So that idea of participation in something that goes against your moral compass really screws you up. It makes you feel bad, makes you feel guilt and shame.\u201d<\/p>\n But soldiers aren\u2019t supposed to talk about these feelings and don\u2019t, which is why Sites titled his new book The Things They Cannot Say: Stories Soldiers Won\u2019t Tell You About What They\u2019ve Seen, Done or Failed to Do in War (Harper Perennial).<\/p>\n The fact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were so one-sided in weaponry and so full of casualties of innocent civilians, including children, who never threatened our country, exacerbates these feelings of guilt.<\/p>\n This trauma coursed through the lengthy suicide letter of Daniel Somers who ran more than 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in Iraq during 2004-2005 and later worked with JSOC \u2014 Joint Special Operations Command \u2014 in Mosul, Iraq.<\/p>\n He writes \u201cto sleep forever seems to be the most merciful thing\u2026 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\u2026. To force me to do these things and then participate in the ensuing cover-up is more than any government has the right to demand.\u201d<\/p>\n In Daniel Somers\u2019 final message he asks: \u201cAnd for what? Bush\u2019s religious lunacy? Cheney\u2019s ever growing fortune and that of his corporate friends? Is this what we destroy lives for?\u201d<\/p>\n As for what he called his \u201cactual final mission,\u201d he wrote: \u201cNot suicide, but a mercy killing\u2026. It was quick, and I did not suffer. And above all, now I am free\u2026. I have no more nightmares or flashbacks or hallucinations.\u201d<\/p>\n What of the young suicide bombers who are depicted in their videos as wanting to become martyrs? Western reporters like to say their motivation is to go the Islamic paradise. That is not what University of Chicago professor, Robert Pape found in his extensive research, concluding that their principal motivation was to expel the occupying invader.<\/p>\n Their immense poverty, war-torn devastation of their villages and tribal areas, and the absence of any future, whether of economic survival or personal achievements, was probably also in the mix. Perhaps some money was given to their destitute families in exchange for their attacks.<\/p>\n Whatever the reasons, to dismiss these fighters as sociopaths is to help preclude our own examination of why we are there blowing apart their societies, provoking sectarian revenge cycles, bribing our way everywhere with crates of $100 bills. As a Yemeni villager plaintively asked, after a devastating drone attack that killed many civilians, \u201cwhy do you hate us so much?\u201d<\/p>\n Here in the U.S. we better start understanding the rising tide of suicides generally. The Centers for Disease Control totals suicides in 2010 at 38,364 Americans as compared with homicides totaling 16,259. Among the baby boomers, suicides are sharply higher than previous generations, especially since the onset of the recession, unemployment and home foreclosures.<\/p>\n We better starting digging more deeply into the conditioning \u201cwhys?\u201d and discounting the traditional explanations of self-hatred and hating us \u201cfor our freedoms.\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n