The Death of Daniel Somers

The Death of Daniel Somers

By Ron Paul
Ron Paul Institute.org
Saturday, May 17, 2014

I am reading the heartbreaking suicide note of Daniel Somers,
a US combat veteran who spent several years fighting in Iraq.

Mr. Somers was only 30 years old when he took his own life, after
being tormented by the horrific memories of what he experienced
in Iraq. He wrote:

“The simple truth is this: 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.”

Many who shout the loudest that we must “support the troops”
urge sending them off to unwinnable and undeclared wars in
which there is no legitimate US interest.

The US military has been abused by those who see military force
as a first resort rather than the last resort and only in self-defense.

This abuse has resulted in a generation of American veterans facing
a life sentence in the prison of tortured and deeply damaged minds
as well as broken bodies.

The numbers sadly tell the story: more military suicides than
combat deaths in 2012, some 22 military veterans take their
lives every day, nearly 30 percent of veterans treated by the
VA have PTSD.

We should be saddened but not shocked when we see the
broken men and women return from battles overseas.

We should be angry with those who send them to suffer and
die in unnecessary wars.

We should be angry with those who send them to kill so many people overseas for no purpose whatsoever.

We should be afraid of the consequences of such a foolish
and dangerous foreign policy.

We should demand an end to the abuse of military members and
a return to a foreign policy that promotes peace and prosperity
instead of war and poverty.



Daniel Somers was a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
He was part of Task Force Lightning, an intelligence unit.

In 2004-2005, he was mainly assigned to a Tactical Human-
Intelligence Team (THT) in Baghdad, Iraq, where he ran more
than 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in the turret of
a Humvee, interviewed countless Iraqis ranging from concerned
citizens to community leaders and and government officials,
and interrogated dozens of insurgents and terrorist suspects.

In 2006-2007, Daniel worked with Joint Special Operations
Command (JSOC) through his former unit in Mosul where he
ran the Northern Iraq Intelligence Center.

His official role was as a senior analyst for the Levant (Lebanon,
Syria, Jordan, Israel, and part of Turkey).

Daniel suffered greatly from PTSD and had been diagnosed with
traumatic brain injury and several other war-related conditions.

On June 10, 2013, Daniel wrote one final letter to his Family,
before taking his own life.

Daniel was only 30 years old.

http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2013/june
/24/the-death-of-daniel-somers.aspx