Cost of War: A Soldier's Suicide

I won't keep you here long as I'd really appreciate it if you could go to the Brad Blog and read about the recent suicide of Army Specialist Douglas Barber, an Iraq War vet who suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) upon returning home and who killed himself earlier this week.

Brad has the whole story on a man who fought for George W. Bush’s “noble cause” only to come home mentally and emotionally scarred and unable to get help from the government that so stridently claims to “support the troops.”

He also has links to some of the soldier’s own writings, where Barber takes on the right-wing talking heads who have offered nothing of themselves in defense of our country but who talk tough when others are doing the fighting. An excerpt:

Talk show hosts like Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and so many others act like they know all about war; then they refuse to give any credence to soldiers like me who have been to war and seen the brutality of war. These guys are nothing but WEAK SPINELESS COWARDS hiding behind microphones while soldiers come home and are losing everything they have.

I ask every American who reads this e-mail to stand up for the soldier who has given their everything for this country to stand up to these guys in the media; ask them why they don't pick up a weapon and follow in the steps of a soldier. Send this e-mail to as many people on your e-mail lists and ask them to do the same.

There needs to be a National awareness for every Veteran who has ever served in any war. Send e-mails to the Big Mouths on TV and ask them to have soldiers like me on their programs. I am asking you as Americans to BOYCOTT every TV show or host/journalist that refuses to tell the real truth.

THIS IS A PERSONAL CHALLENGE TO BILL,SEAN AND RUSH TO HAVE ME ON YOUR PROGRAM TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. Otherwise you are nothing but dirt under every soldier's boots!

They didn’t accept Barber’s challenge and he is now gone, so they will not have to.

As Brad says at the start of his article, may this man finally rest in peace.