Iraq War veteran Tomas Young said today he does not harbor any personal resentment against former President George Bush despite being an outspoken anti-war activist who blamed Bush's administration for the war on Iraq.
Young spoke from his hospice bed with his wife Claudia by his side on the same day the First Families - both past and present - gathered to honor Bush's presidency at the opening of a library in his name in Dallas.
He said: 'I'm not angry at George Bush because he seems like a relatively good guy. I think he was manipulated by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, and from what I hear he is divorced from them.'
Iraq veteran: Tomas Young with his wife Claudia by his side lies dying in his hospice bed but tells HuffPo he does not hold a grudge against George Bush
Leaders: Tomas spoke out on the same day present and former presidents gathered at the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas
For nearly a decade, Young has been living in chronic pain after being paralyzed by a sniper's bullet four days into his first assignment in the Middle East.
He decided to enlist for the army after watching Bush stand on the rubble of the Twin Towers in the wake of 9/11 and encourage young people to pledge to go after those responsible.
Since then, the 33-year-old has rallied against war and a documentary was made about his worsening condition. Earlier this year he made the decision that he would simply refuse nourishment and wait to die as he does not want to suffer any more.
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He told the Huffington Post today that he believes that Bush 'realized that [Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz] bamboozled him, and he wanted to be liked and this wasn't his nature.'
Young famously wrote an open letter to Bush and Cheney and published it on the tenth anniversary of the conflict, chastising them for going to war on Iraq when the country had nothing to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Sick and tired: Tomas Young was paralyzed his fourth day serving in Iraq in 2004; now in hospice care, he is planning to refuse nourishment in a few weeks after a string of health complications
Patriot act: Young, pictured at his home in 2007, can no longer eat solid foods
He said: 'On every level - moral, strategic, military and economic - Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr Bush and Mr Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences.
'My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live.
'I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.'
Asked today if he would like to see the letter in the Bush library, he said: 'I think it'd be a great thing for it to be in the library but I doubt they'll put it in there because it reflects the truth that they don't want to tell.'
Enduring love: Tomas Young with his wife Claudia Cuellar, pictured in happier times. She supports his decision to end his life after suffering years of chronic pain
Two days after the September 11 attacks, Mr Young, from Kansas City, Oklahoma, joined the Army to serve his country in a time of chaos.
In 2004, Mr Young was sent to Sadr City, Iraq. Four days after being deployed, he was shot by a sniper.
He was hit in the collarbone on April 4 while riding in an unarmored Humvee and was instantly paralyzed.
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The unconscious private was transferred to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center outside of Washington, D.C., by way of Kuwait and Germany.
Speaking with the Kansas City Star, Young said that his wife, Claudia Cuellar understands and supports his decision to die.
‘I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,’ he explained to the paper, adding that his medications frequently leave him lethargic and nauseated.’
Mr Young was fitted with a colostomy bag meaning that he can no longer eat solid foods. His wife doesn’t cook anymore so as to help her husband not to think about food.
Now in hospice care, Young says his mind is clear.
Mr Young goes to Washington: Tomas Young pictured the Capitol building in the 2007 documentary 'Body of War'