Tomas Young in Body of War Documentary

Paralyzed Iraqi Soldier a Disillusioned Vet

Just two days after the 9-11 attacks, Tomas Young enlisted in the Army and prepared to meet the enemy in Afghanistan. It was a country he would never see; instead, he was deployed to Iraq where he was shot and paralyzed.

The injury left Young with more questions than answers: What did Iraq have to do with the attacks of 9-11 or Islamic terrorists? If there were no weapons of mass destruction, what was the U.S. still doing in there?

Young's personal story and public protest against the Iraq War inspired the newly-released documentary Body Of War, produced and directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, featuring an original soundtrack by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder.

Young now considers the invasion of Iraq that has cost the lives of 4,000 of his fellow soldiers to be arbitrary. He was the company clerk, a position he had transferred into 6 weeks before being deployed to Iraq.

On April 4, 2004 Young was guarding some gear on an unarmoured truck with 23 other soldiers (the truck was meant for 18 soldiers with gear so we were quite packed in). It have a tarp on the front and it was prone to overheating.

They were providing security for a rescue operation in Sadr City. US troops had shut down an Iraqi newspaper, which caused a riot and pinned a Humvee. As they rolled down the main street of Sadr City they began taking fire from the rooftops.A man with an AK47 stepped from behind a pillar and fired 2 shots. Young felt his body go completely numb and he dropped his M16.

Only four or five soldiers on the truck didn't get shot. The radiator was shot out and the truck overheated preventing the troops from returning to base. An Iraqi bus was commandeered and the wounded loaded onto it.

Young was airlifted from the base hospital to a field hospital in Kuwait where he had bone and metal fragments removed from his spine and my knee. Young blames everyone from US President Bush to Congress to the Department of Defense for not adequately supplying the troops.

Young's Myspace page supports Iraq Veterans Against the War. For more information visit the Body Of War website.