11/11/14 11/11/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica this is democracy now. >> my last letter to mr. bush the consequences of your lives and search for wealth and power. i write this letter because before my own death, i want to

i along with that millions of my fellow citizens along with the hundreds of millions in iraq and the middle east, for what you have done. >> as the nation marks veterans day, we remember tomas young, the paralyzed iraq war veteran turned peace activist. he has just died at the age of 34. last year he published, "a message to george w. bush and dick cheney from a dying veteran." we will hear tomas in his own words and speak to the legendary talkshow host phil donahue who co-directed a film about tomas called "body of war." ,>> i had never seen a sacrifice this close up. and now that he is gone, i remember him now and always,

especially on this veterans day. and i realize as i looked at him in bed inert, he was just one of thousands of young men and women who more than sacrificed for this nation. >> all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president obama has issued his strongest statement to date in favor of a free and open internet. in a video message, obama called for the the federal communications commission to uphold the principle of net neutrality by classifying the internet as a public utility. obama said such protections would prevent internet service providers or isps, like comcast, from blocking access to websites, slowing down content, or providing paid fastlanes for internet service.

>> cable companies cannot decide which online stores you can shop at or which streaming services you can use, and they cannot let any company pay for priority over its competitors. to put these protections in place, i am asking the fcc to reclassify internet service under title ii of a law known as the telecommunications act. in plain english, i'm asking them to recognize that for most in a can, the internet has become an essential part of everyday communication and everyday life. >> press freedom groups have soundly praised obama's statement, which bolsters calls by nearly four million commenters who have urged the fcc to protect net neutrality. free press said in a statement -- "[the president] may have saved the internet at the moment it was in the greatest jeopardy." obama's message comes in the wake of nationwide protests after reports the fcc planned to adopt a "hybrid" model that would apply expanded protections only to the relationship between internet providers and content firms, like netflix, and not to

the relationship between providers and users. the fcc is an independent agency meaning obama cannot directly control its actions. obama's appointed chair of the fcc, tom wheeler, who is a former lobbyist for both the cell phone and cable industries, has said the agency will need more time to craft its proposed rules. a militant group in egypt has pledged allegiance to the islamic state. the declaration by the group comes amidst rumors over the fate of islamic state leader abu bakr al-baghdadi, here are some -- the pentagon has not confirmed any details of his death. iraq war veteran and antiwar activist tomas young has died just weeks before his 35th birthday. in 2004, young was shot and paralyzed in iraq. last year, 10 years after the invasion of iraq, young

announced his intention to take his own life due to immense suffering from his injuries. he wrote a letter to former president george w. bush and vice president dick cheney, which he read on democracy now! reckoning, yours will come. . hope you will be put on trial i hope you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, deserved towho live. >> tomas young later decided to live. he died at home this week in seattle. we will talk more about tomas young after headlines with filled on a few, who codirected the film about thomas called "body of war." as the united states marks veteran's day today, the

administration has announced it may fire 1,000 staffers who were part of the failure to provide adequate healthcare to veterans. newly appointed veterans affairs secretary bob mcdonald cited improvements in care. >> we have developed something we call the blueprint for v.a.'snce to reestablish leader in health care and we have begun what may become the largest restructuring in the department's history. >> in nigeria, a suicide bomber disguised as a student killed nearly 50 boys at a boarding school in the town of potiskum. boko haram isroup suspected of carrying out the attack. in india, at least eight women have died and 30 others are in serious condition after receiving sterilization surgeries with infected instruments as part of a government run program. more than 80 women were reportedly operated on over a six-hour period by a single doctor. india offers free sterilizations as a way to combat population

growth, often providing cash incentives that amount to the equivalent of a week's salary for the poor. outrage continues in mexico over the apparent massacre of 43 students in the southern state of guerrero. on monday protesters blocked the international airport in the resort city of acapulco for three hours after clashing with police. u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon has announced the creation of a panel to investigate deaths and damage to u.n. facilities during this summer's israeli assault on gaza, which killed nearly 2,200 palestinians, most of them civilians. the inquiry will be led by former dutch general patrick cammaert. the news comes amidst tensions benjamin netanyahu found to which a crackdown after palestinian attackers killed an israeli soldier and a woman in separate attacks in tel aviv and the west bank.

in the united states, a leading palestinian activist has been jailed after she was found guilty of concealing her conviction on bombing charges by an israeli military court more than 40 years ago. rasmea odeh says her confession to the bombings was obtained through torture and sexual assault in israeli custody. odeh moved to the united states in 1995. she serves as an associate director at the arab american action network, a chicago-area . her supporters say her prosecution was politically motivated because of her role support for palestinian rights. odeh has been declared a flight risk and taken into custody ahead of sentencing in march. her attorneys have vowed to appeal. a new york city doctor who is diagnosed with ebola after treating patients in guinea is due to re-release from hospital today after being declared ebola free. dr. craig spencer was the city's first and only known case of ebola. new york city is changing its

response to marijuana possession. police commissioner william bratton said instead of being arrested, people caught with small amounts of marijuana may receive a summons to appear in court and pay a fine if found guilty. but bratton also noted exceptions to the policy. >> under the new policy, persons found to be in possession of this amount of marijuana, 25 grams or less, may be eligible to receive a summons in lieu of arrest. a summons instead of being arrested. however, i point out there are exceptions to the provisions of this new department policy, which we made very clear that persons who are burning and/or smoking marijuana in public will still be subject to arrest. >> new york city mayor bill de blasio criticized low-level marijuana arrests during his campaign, but according to the drug policy alliance, police conducted more arrests for marijuana possession from march to august, under de blasio, than during the same period the previous year under mayor michael bloomberg. 86% of those arrested for

marijuana possession in the first eight months of 2014 were african american or latino. imprisoned journalist and former black panther mumia abu-jamal has filed a lawsuit challenging a new pennsylvania law he says violates the rights of prisoners to free speech. his speech was opposed by pennsylvania officials and the widow of daniel faulkner, the police officer whom abu-jamal was convicted of killing. the law authorizes the censoring prisoners public addresses of prisoners or former offenders if judges agree that allowing them to speak would cause "mental anguish" to the victim. a 30-year-old audio recording has been released publicly for the first time which shows then u.s. president ronald reagan apologizing to british prime minister margaret thatcher over the u.s. invasion of grenada. the united states invaded grenada in 1983 after the assassination of leftist

president maurice bishop. within months the invasion led to the installation of a pro-american government. while the fighting was still in progress, reagan called thatcher to apologize for not telling her ahead of time of the u.s. plans to invade grenada, which is part of the british commonwealth. >> if i were there, margaret, i would throw my head in the door before i came in. >> president reagan went on to apologize for any "embarassment" caused by the u.s. invasion. three civil rights activists who were murdered by the ku klux klan in 1964 after traveling to mississippi to register black voters in the south have been posthumously awarded the presidential medal of freedom. president obama named james chaney, andrew goodman and michael schwerner among the winners of this year's medal, the highest civilian honor in the united states. other recipients of this year's medal include chilean novelist isabel allende and native

american activist suzan harjo. and those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as the nation marks veterans day, we begin today's show remembering the iraq war veteran tomas young who died earlier this week at the age of 34. on april 4, 2004, his fifth day in iraq, tomas young's unit came under fire in the baghdad neighborhood of sadr city. tomas was shot, left paralyzed, never to walk again. thomas returned home to become an active member of iraq veterans against the war. he remained in and out of the hospital for the rest of his life. tomas was later featured in the documentary "body of war" directed by ellen spiro and the legendary television broadcaster phil donahue. in a moment, phil donahue will join us in the studio, but first, i want to turn to an excerpt from the film featuring

tomas young speaking in 2005 at the lafayette presbyterian church in brooklyn, new york about president george w. bush and the iraq war. >> you have to excuse me for a little bit, i get a little lightheaded every now and again. hold on. i would also like that during this speech, i may say the word "uh" a lot and stammer a bit, so forgive me for standing a bit presidential dish sounding a bit presidential. [laughter] [applause] i called my recruiter around september 13, 2001 when, if you can remember, the president stood on the rubble with a

bullhorn and said we were going to get the evildoers that did this. hold on a second. let's hope that is a little better. around therah rah country got everybody excited, and i was excited. i wanted to go to afghanistan and get the people that did this to us. , aer i joined the army became more and more clear to me we were not going to go to afghanistan, we're going to go to iraq. more and more, i began to feel with the statements like george he sought the approval of a higher father than that, itnd things like

really concern me that president bush was trying to use jesus christ as an advocate for the war. but i always remembered, at least in the bible i read, jesus christ was always about peaceful and whatsoever you do unto the least of my brother, you do under me. man whoshocks me that a tries to live his life by such a devout christian philosophy seems to skew so much on this one issue. -- you will have to excuse me again. i'm sorry. it is a little hard to regulate my body temperature and it is hot up here. i heard somebody wants say that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for goodman to do nothing.

so just everybody keep together and stay strong and one day we will get will we need to get done. thank you all for waiting and i hope i did not disappoint. [applause] >> tomas young speaking in 2005 broadcast in the documentary "body of war." he died earlier this week at the age of 34. joining us now is the legendary talkshow host phil donahue who co-directed "body of war." we believe late on sunday night, early monday morning, tomas died at home with his wife claudia in seattle. they had just moved there. can you talk about how you came to know tomas? '05.met tomas young in , so we are 10 '04

years and seven months later now. during which time he has been trapped in a bed. with ralph nader and he said the mother at walter reed wants to see me, do you want to go? i said, yeah. so off we go and here's this young 24 year old in bed, whacked out on morphine having just arrived from overseas. what down on morphine. as i stood and looked, his mother explained his injuries to me. tomas is a t-4 bristly bullets t-4 on thend exited spine so he's paralyzed from the nipples down. i said, people should see this. this is the most sanitized war of my lifetime. if you're going to send all of

these and men and women to war, show the pain. do not sanitize the war. five years later, we come out with this film. this documentary, "body of war." which, by the way, won a lot of awards and was on the shortlist of the oscar, but we sold no popcorn. this is not a take your girl to the movie, movie, but it is available on netflix. >> that's good to another clip of "body of war." array ofng lists the medications he is to take every day. first, you hear the voices of president bush and supporters of war around the time congress voted to authorize the invasion. >> saddam hussein is harboring terrorists. >> harbors these terrorists. >> aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists.

>> we know the network share a common enemy. the united states of america. >> i wonder if the bushes and the people of fox news and people like that had a big sigh of relief when the hurricane hit? it is a horrible tragedy, but he must've said, thank god we don't have to talk about cindy. my pillbox separates them out for the week. nerve pain medication. cooks ms. collins, aye. >> this is a drug that is a blood thinner. >> mr. craig,aye. >> this is an anti-spasm medication. >> aye. >> this is a nerve pain education. an antidepressant.

>> aye. >> this is for morning nausea. >> aye. .> and this is morphine it is an aquatic and in the situation, the effect is not to get high, but to kill pain and so i have to take more and more of it to stop the pain. >> that was tomas young interspersed with a vote for war in congress. till donahue, before we go to break, how you came to know thomas in the making of this film? >> after meeting him at walter book andhought about a i thought, well, i have been in tv, by career has had moving pictures. although i had never made a film, db howick, who is a

whotime progressive figure was responsible for dishtv whom i met on th airplane -- >> and producer. >> yes. i called and said, hello, i am filled on he. she said, no i'm not. and i thought, well thank god she recognized me. we met at the kansas city airport and went to see tomas and she immediately braced the idea. she turned out to be fabulous. i got very lucky. she did not know me, really, and i certainly did not know her. and somehow, she survived this almost five-year professional relationship with me. her work is very evident in the film, i think. >> where going to go to break. when we come back, we're going to look at tomas over the years after he returned from iraq.

2004 inounded april 4, sadr city, the same day that casey sheehan, the son of cindy sheehan, the well-known peace activist, was also killed. we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

ve "no more" a song eddie wrote fordder tomas young in the film "body of war." our guest is phil donahue as we remember tomas young. as the nation marks veterans day, we remember tomas young who

died just weeks shy of his 35th brick a -- birthday. his fifth day in iraq, tomas young's unit came under fire. he was left paralyzed, never to walk again. in 2008, he appeared on democracy now! we had just come back from the winter soldier hearings in maryland were soldiers testified about the war. had a fewose soldiers days before been in austin at sxsw and they had seen the release of "body of war." andlked to tomas young asked him to talk about the response to the film and what it meant to him. well, it is been an amazing honor to travel the country with this music that i'm putting out ,n this album and the movie

that it is been an amazing experience to make. and to reach out to soldiers that are speaking out against this war and to try to touch lives on an individual basis has been an incredible experience. but right off the bat, i have to address something that dick cheney said yesterday. >> maybe we have a clip of what dick cheney had to say. let's give it a try. i think this is from our headlines today. this is the vice president dick cheney. >>. thepresident carries biggest burden. you estimate the big decisions about young americans. we're fortunate to have a group of men and women come all volunteer force who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harms way for the rest of us. was that we wanted to address? absolutely.

from one of those soldiers who volunteered to go to afghanistan after september 11, which is where the evidence said we needed to go, to the master of the college deferment in vietnam, the last conflict we did not going to voluntarily -- many of us volunteered with patriotic feelings in our heart, only to see them subverted and bastardized by the administration and sent into the wrong country. yes, we volunteered, but we did not volunteer were you sent us to go. and i realize that we don't , that where we get to go we at least should be sent in the right places to defend the constitution just as we volunteered to do. , i want to go to a part of the film "body of four" which

-- "body of work" which was the white house correspondents dinner of 2005. your interesting because you were watching it. it includes president bush joking around about the missing ladyus as well as first laura bush. this is the clip. >> does weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere. [laughter] note no weapons over there. maybe under here.

>> i said to him the other day, george, if you really want to y in the world, you're going to have to stay up later. [laughter] ladies and german, i am a desperate housewife. >> they are so insulated. they don't want to know about people like tomas. and the 4% or 5% of the population that actually sacrificed for this war. >> that last voice is tomas .oung's mother tomas, your reaction to the skit? twofold.my reaction is

i would like to tell laura bush that there are probably -- there are probably a couple thousand desperate housewives who are quite missing their husbands and would love to have their husbands there to go to bed early before 9:00. livehe president to be so -- glib about a lie he told the american people and my brothers and sisters in arms to get us to go to war so blindly and patriotically for this country, it is offensive to me as a soldier first, and as american, second. and now that clip i was watching was recorded from the year previous, so i had a full year for that wound to fester and boil as far as my anger and resentment at the president

making that joke and looking around the oval office as if the weapons of mass destruction were under his desk. >> tomas, i want to go to near the end of the film when you meet democratic senator robert byrd of west virginia. we have been playing his impassioned speeches on the floor of the senate, which figured prominently in the film. in this clip, senator byrd proudly reads to you the names of all of the 23 senators who voted against authorizing the invasion of iraq. >> i'm going to read you the names of these -- >> the immortal 23? >> the immortal 23. here we are. this is the resolution. >> senators voting and the negative. >> or the 23.

here are the 183. akaka, no. bingham, no. boxer, no. b-y-r-d right there. no.ee, he stood with us. conrad, no. >> jon corzine? >> yes. corzine, no. >> i don't have my glasses on. what is that one? >> dayton? >> yes, god bless him. he's leaving us after this year. >> who is that? >> senator durbin. senator feingold. that would be bob graham from florida.

no.r. durbin, mr. feingold, no. mr. graham of florida, no. >> we go all the way down here to daniel in a way. there's a man who is really sacrificed, who gave his arm. >> in hawaii, yeah. >> he is a hero. >> years another one of my heroes, senator jeffords. roxy is one of mine, too. >> mr. jeffords, no. >> kennedy. leahy 11. >> mr. kennedy, mr. leahy, mr. 11, no, no, no. >> ms. mikulski, no. >> murray, no. >> read from rhode island. >> mr. reed of rhode island, no. mr. servings, no.

>> misstep and now, no. >> wellstone, he gave his life surely thereafter. and widen. he is still here. >> mr. wellstone, no. >> mr. wyden, no. >> 23. immortal 23. our founders who were so proud, thank you for your service. a great sacrifice. you served your country well. >> as have you, sir. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. >> the late senator robert byrd meeting with and talking to the late iraq war veteran and peace activist tomas young. it is from the film "body of war" that was codirected by our guest phil donahue.

what a film. >> yeah. it was a chapter of our lives. none of us who worked on this film have been that close to injury andlitating it was a spiritual experience you will never forget. difficulte a very section of "body of war does grow showing tomas young's mother kathy smith helping him insert a catheter. >> i'm going to lift up and you're going to set that under me. quick it is hard to do from this angle. can you help me, mom? now in this bag, you're going to take this lube out.

thatad of lbuingthe end of you will lube the head of the penis. --thenad over the whole insert the catheter. a really kind of wanted you to put the glove on the hand that would use the catheter, but ok. seriously, if you could push in a little quicker. >> no, i can't. >> are you nervous? >> yes. but never done this before. is it coming out? >> yes. >> mom, mom, we generally tend to watch what is going on up there. >> always trying to move it so it doesn't go everywhere. >> good plan. that worked swimmingly. [applause] look at that. you have pee on your hands. >> i know. it is not the first time i have

had your pee on your hands. -- on my hands. >> that was tomas'mother cathy smith. they were at an antiwar protest in washington, d.c.? >> no, that was enroute to enroute to see nathan off, her younger son. this is important to see him off to war. sceneent and we have that in the film. her saying goodbye to her younger son. she explains, if i could get him out to machines are the sacrificed one son, but he wanted to go -- if i could get him out, she has are ready sacrificed one son, but he wanted to go. brothers. he is a big boy now, and she was not able to talk them out of signing up to serve. >> tomas young became very

active in iraq veterans against the war. can you talk about his activism and his struggle against his pain? >> well, he was a member of iraq .ets against the war a lot of relationships developed between tomas and other members of that group. impressive in his speeches. although, he often had to stop because his respiratory system was not as it should be because of the paralysis. >> and he would bend over in his wheelchair -- >> together more oxygen for himself -- to gather more oxygen for himself. vest fromut gels in a the freezer just to cool his

body temperature. these are just some of the things that people did not see. see the cleaning of the bedsores, the changing of the bed clothing after the catheter broke. but urinary tract infection, i mean, the more you see this -- and there are thousands and thousands of homes in this country as we speak dealing with this kind of burden that turns the whole family upside down. and nobody sees it. in february 2013, tomas young stunned an audience gathered to watch the film, "body of war." when he joined them via skype after the film and made this announcement. you have to listen closely.

the line last year that began the sharp pains in my abdomen. and they the v.a. treated me like [indiscernible]

>> that was tomas young announcing he would die. he could not tolerate the pain. claudia, his wife, was sitting next to him on this skype. litchfield,owing in connecticut, when did you get word of this, that he was planning to do this? that night? >> i'm guessing the week before he called me on a saturday and, you know -- i have to say i couldn't -- if you say, oh, tomas, please don't.

you suddenly realize, it is a selfish thing to say. you're saying, i want you to live. really are not appreciating or at least having some empathy for what he wants. so even when he made that announcement at the litchfield the other in connecticut -- theater in connecticut, the audience was, i would say, sympathetic for his decision. i'm sure many wished he wasn't doing this, but they understood it. and that was a remarkable -- >> can you talk to about the deterioration to the point where we saw, what cost him in the end was always in pain, to be expressing such severe pain? we're talking about 10 years after his injury. >> tomas, it is all a blur to me now, but have to think six or seven years ago after we sustained ae film,

swollen right arm and it hurt. they went immediately to the emergency room and they gave him pain killers. hat was at the v.a. he came home and i think not longer after that, he was discovered in a coma. tomas sustained a pulmonary embolism, which is oxygen deprivation to the brain. you heard his speech. his speech now came very labored. he also could not hold silverware. he could bend his fingers, but he had to be fed. they had to find a corner in a restaurant on this few times when they went out so that people would not stare. and she fed him. these are just some of the things people did not see in the sanitized war. >> last year after tomas made this announcement, he joined us

on democracy now! a tv crew went to his house in kansas city and they film 10 as he and his wife claudia came on he read anow! and open letter he wrote called, "a message to george w. bush and dick cheney from a dying veteran." listen carefully. this is an excerpt. my lastte this letter, letter, to you mr. bush and mr. cheney. [indiscernible] manipulation and search for wealth and power. i write this letter because before my own death, i want to make it clear that i hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow with hundreds of

and the more in iraq middle east, no fully who you are and what you have done. ,> that was tomas young ultimately at that time, he decided not to take his own life .fter reading that he got so much enormous response all over the country. but they moved to seattle and he died in his sleep late sunday night, early monday morning. >> yes, he did. very earlyled me monday morning. it was on my cell phone. i have an waiting for the call for 10 years. i have to say that. every time his area code came up , this is it.

so finally it happened and he is at peace. take somewe have to positive away from this. i think tomas made an enormous impact on those he met as well as people who saw him and what he went through. he was really -- he was the town crier for all of those other veterans. we are up now to over -- is it over almost 3000 in afghanistan? afghanistan. so we're coming up on 6000 and iraq and afghanistan. the replaceable human beings -- irreplaceable human beings who will never see a child confirmed, holy communion, bar mitzvah -- all of the wonderful things in life they will never, ever experience because of this

massive blunder. >> and that is the american would point tomas out, we don't know the number of iraqis and afghans who have died. >> and certainly over 4 million in refugees, people living out of laundry bags. career, after legendary what, 29 years on the phil donahue show, you came back and to broadcastinue on msnbc, prime time slot, right before the invasion of iraq. you are the most popular show on msnbc at the time, and then right before the war, you were pederemoniously don't -- dum in a secret memo came out that they did not want to have an antiwar voice as the other networks were waving the american flag. >> yes, that was published by

"the new york times." the memo was written up by a republican pollster who took the -- 25 were they put 20 51 people in the room and showed them my picture most of the people did not like me. that was the result. i was called in to near shapiro's office -- neil shapiro's office. he is now head of pbs here in new york. politicalinitely a termination. it is interesting because during that time, they were terrified. you should know this is october through say august through 2002 and i was- gone by 2003.

this is not long after the towers. corporate media -- >> you were replaced by michael savage. >> i was replaced by michael savage. they cannot wait to outfox fox. conservativestwo for every liberal. and they wanted me to do entertain her's. don't do political. studya very interesting in the thinking at that time. toerals were terrifying them. they were afraid of liberals. liberals were not patriotic. liberals were blaming the victim. dissent was totally, totally unwelcome. >> and yet you persisted, knowing the climate. >> well, i guess so. at my own peril.

no said songs for me. i am a lucky guy. i got a little money. but we have to wonder whose voice wasn't heard, that didn't have the kind of ability to do this kind of thing and at least survive a little while? interesting, really. at that time, half the political voice in this nation was silenced. and i believe most people at that time opposed this war. most people did. yet,ome over there -- and every much a politician -- every major metropolitan in this country supported the invasion of iraq. every major much of politics. -- metropolitan. this is what you can do with the

politics of fear. bush took this whole nation and the home media establishment by the year and let it right into the sort. amazing the land of free speech, free press -- >> do you see the same thing happening again right now? >> obviously, you can see this has slowed us up, but it looks like that is all it has done. hesitant we have been on" missionng them creep is underway. what happens when somebody is taken prisoner? become a warrior nation and we have no respect for diplomacy. and we have just stood mute while the constitution has just been shredded. this is a nation of law unless

we are scared. continueyou certainly to provide a voice for people to speak in the making of this remarkable film as we remember tomas young, who died just shy of his 35th birthday, iraq war veteran, active member of iraq veterans against the war. if you want to see his reading of his full letter, his letter from a dying soldier, a dying bush ando george w. dick cheney, you can go to our website at democracynow.org. you spoke of being a lucky guy, phil. another of the reasons you're so lucky is your wonderful wife marlo thomas. i want to congratulate you and her, among the 19 recipients of this years presidential medal of freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, is the award-winning actress, producer, author, activist marlo thomas.

who is the wife of our guest, phil donahue, or he is her husband. the white house said in a statement -- awards will be presented on november 24. congratulations. >> i will say hello for you. >> when we come back, we're going to play some clips on this veterans day of veterans voices. we will bury -- we will be bringing you storycorps. we be talking to president obama perhaps about any of the issues today? talked about >> it's not likely i'll get that opportunity. so i will be a good husband and

try to stay small. it is not easy for a talkshow host. >> phil donahue, our guest. this is democracy now! democracynow.org the war and peace report. back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

stray bullets" by tom morello written for tomas young. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end this veterans day with storycorps, the award-winning national social history project. the largest world history project in the united states. two years ago storycorps , launched the military voices initiative recording the stories of post 9/11 military veterans

and their families. and this veterans day storycorps is releasing a series of animations and a radio special based on these interviews. the story you're about to hear features specialist justin cliburn who deployed to iraq with the oklahoma army national guard in 2005. while serving in baghdad, cliburn formed an unlikely friendship with two iraqi boys who lived nearby. justin speaks with his wife, deanne, about the lasting impression the boys left on his life. >> one day, we saw this child walking through the compound. his name was ali. he did not want to talk to us. >> as opposed to a lot of the other kids you encountered. >> yes, he was very shy. the second or third time i met him, he brought his best friend on med -- augmented was much more outgoing.

ali really opened up. once i met these children, it made every day something i look forward to. we would play rock, paper, scissors, kick around a soccer ball. we were about as close as people that don't speak the same length which can be. i had never been really good with children. this was the first time i felt like i love to someone who wasn't my family member. but one day, ali showed up and i could tell something wasn't right. he kept saying, ahmed, ahmed, boom [captioning made possible by democracy now!] to thend his mother went gas station and a suicide bomb detonated. his mother died instantly. ahmed is in a hospital somewhere. other soldiers and i collected what cash we had and gave it to ali and said take this to his father. walking veryali

slow. he sat down on the curb next to my from the. -- humbee. he dug a hole and picked up a rock and put it in the hole and put the dirt back over it. he just pointed to the ground and said ahmed. and i knew that ahmed was dead. him.sat on the curb with me and is a camouflage carrying him, and northd baghdad kit, and just sat there and cried. him.'t know what became of that is the nature of four, i suppose. but whenever i see footage from baghdad, i always kind of look around wondering if he is in the

frame. >> that was specialist justin cliburn speaking to his wife, deanne, just one of the many stories featured in the "military voices initiative" by storycorps this veterans day. releasing the series of animations and a radio special based on these interviews. and that does it for our broadcast. for all of our interviews with tomas young, you can go to democracynow.org. ato, we are posting online democracynow.org part 2 her interview with matthew hoh, the former marine core company commander in iraq who at the highest level state department official to quit over the war in afghanistan. he talks about dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder. go to our website to see this interview at democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]