The finishing segment on this morning’s Democracy Now! interviewed the subject a new documentary, Body of War, which follows the struggle and activism of a veteran of the Iraq debacle. Tomas Young became a passionate anti-war activist upon returning from Iraq. Alongside 24 other soldiers, Young was hailed with fire while crammed into a vehicle built for 18. In Sadr City. Without armor.
The film is part anti-war documentary and part biopic. Young’s particular situation makes his story uniquely compelling. To hear him speak, he’s obviously a patriot and an intellectual. Young has a quick tongue and trades barbs with peo-war detractors, and is able to link the war in Iraq to the U.S.’ other foreign and domestic goals on a macro-level. His critical thinking and morals are what got him into the military in the first place: Tomas Young says he called his recruiter on September 13, 2001, because of a desire to fight al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Unlike so many Americans, he knows which Middle Eastern countries could be held responsible for 9/11– and was dismayed to watch his government shift its focus to Iraq. He knew the body of evidence for invading Iraq was flawed, yet had no say in his own involvement.
Following his injury, Young proceeded to become an unwitting poster child for just about every wrong our military has done to its soldiers lately– improper combat security, inadequate post-trauma care, untreated pain medication addiction, and inappropriate deployment in the first place. Young has overcome a ridiculous spread of obstacles in order to become a functional citizen again, let alone to lead a public life. He’s decided to turn his experiences into a reason to speak out against the war in Iraq, and Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro have decided to follow him around with cameras while he did it.
Anti-war veterans are a powerful voice against U.S. combat in Iraq. Those who choose to speak against the war are nearly untouchable; perhaps the only people truly qualified to judge this conflict are the soldiers who have waged it. The administration can discredit Cindy Sheehan, but to disparage a wounded vet like Tomas Young (or, say, Max Cleeland) for being anti-war is a tough trick to pull.
Though we just passed the milestones of five years of deployment and 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed, Tomas Young is able to look beyond even his fallen fellow soldiers in his call for peace. He sees the growing intensity of Islamic fundamentalism among civilians who never should have been involved in our war. He sees the sectarian conflicts that have killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and the proliferation of al-Qaeda in the nations we’ve turned our backs on. He sees the insult of the President pretending to look for the “missing” WMDs beneath the Oval Office desk not only as a soldier, but as an American whose name and nation are attached to this war. He sees a mission unaccomplished at the expense of American soldiers.
When considering why my opposition to this war is so intense even though I’m not a Muslim or a veteran, even though I don’t know too many soldiers who have been injured there (and, thankfully, none who have died), I think about people like Tomas Young. I think about 9/11 and the ridiculous tactics used to divert our attention from combating terrorism to “liberating” Iraq. And I hear our President telling widows and parents that their children have not died in vain. That those who are coming back from this war with unprecedented mental and physical trauma are somehow protecting their nation from another catastrophic attack. Most of all, I think about the 4,000 servicemembers killed in an illegal and immoral war that has nothing to do with terrorism in the first place… to avenge the deaths of 3,000 Americans in a terrorist attack perpetrated by Saudis and al-Qaeda leaders… it doesn’t add up.
The fundamental wrong I see, what keeps me worrying about this and sick with rage at our President and his administration, is that they have died in vain. And they continue to do so. That’s why I get so upset over it. Young’s hope for his film is that it will encourage other veterans to “speak truth to power.” He wants to turn this war around, to at least give the gift of honesty and dignity to the families of the fallen. Well, Body of War opens April 4 at the E Street Cinema in Washington, D.C. and I will be there listening.
