Vietnam veteran and West Point graduate fasting near the White House
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Geoff Millard
Nov 18, 2009, 4:34:36 PM11/18/09
to IVAW DC Chapter Supporters
Thomas Mahany has been fasting near the White House since Veteran's
Day, as well as visiting each representative on the Hill.
He wrote this letter to Obama and is passing a copy to each rep, along
with information on why he is fasting:
Thomas E. Mahany
Royal Oak, MI
101st Airborne Division, USARV, 1969
Barak Obama
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC
Dear Mr. President,
In May of 1970 I spent 29 days in Lafayette Square fasting for Peace
in Viet Nam. I now feel that is time to act once again. Accordingly,
as of 0600 Hours, Nov 11, Veterans Day 2009, I have taken my last
material sustenance other than water until specific action is taken by
your Administration and our Military to stem the tragic and ever-
increasing rise in the incidence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
which is rapidly approaching epidemic proportions among our Fighting
Men and Women.
I served in Viet Nam and I also lost a brother-in law to
suicide
caused by PTSD. He had two young sons. I have seen firsthand what this
can do to a family.
In taking my action, I hope to elicit for you, from the peace loving
people of this nation, moral support sufficient to spiritually bolster
you as you make your decision concerning our military presence in
Afghanistan.
Mr. President, please end this needless, incessant war making.
We
have long ago surpassed humanely reasonable demand exacted upon the
fruit of our middle class as well as wrought excessive death and
destruction on unwitting civilians in foreign lands. Let us now tone
down the hatred and stop the violence that has engulfed our society.
I beg you in the words of Abraham Lincoln; please do not yield to the
“peculiar and powerful interests.…With malice toward none; with
charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the
right,...let us strive on to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for
him who shall have borne the battle, ...to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all
nations….The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart, …will yet swell
the chorus,… when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better
angels of our nature”
Sir, I pray you find the strength to make the honorable choice and the
courage to implement it.
Withdraw our military men and women from the Middle East now. Take
them away from the ordeal of continually dealing with the relentless
and senseless mortality which surrounds them. Deal with the cause, not
just the effect.
Again, I am resolved to partake of no food until some concrete
positive action on your part has come to pass. During this time I
shall, if allowed, keep myself available to the public in Lafayette
Square across from the White House.
Respectfully,
Thomas E. Mahany
He's putting his life savings on this, and no one has been standing
with him since it began on the 11th.
Steve Yoczik
202-652-6441
Day, as well as visiting each representative on the Hill.
He wrote this letter to Obama and is passing a copy to each rep, along
with information on why he is fasting:
Thomas E. Mahany
Royal Oak, MI
101st Airborne Division, USARV, 1969
Barak Obama
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC
Dear Mr. President,
In May of 1970 I spent 29 days in Lafayette Square fasting for Peace
in Viet Nam. I now feel that is time to act once again. Accordingly,
as of 0600 Hours, Nov 11, Veterans Day 2009, I have taken my last
material sustenance other than water until specific action is taken by
your Administration and our Military to stem the tragic and ever-
increasing rise in the incidence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
which is rapidly approaching epidemic proportions among our Fighting
Men and Women.
I served in Viet Nam and I also lost a brother-in law to
suicide
caused by PTSD. He had two young sons. I have seen firsthand what this
can do to a family.
In taking my action, I hope to elicit for you, from the peace loving
people of this nation, moral support sufficient to spiritually bolster
you as you make your decision concerning our military presence in
Afghanistan.
Mr. President, please end this needless, incessant war making.
We
have long ago surpassed humanely reasonable demand exacted upon the
fruit of our middle class as well as wrought excessive death and
destruction on unwitting civilians in foreign lands. Let us now tone
down the hatred and stop the violence that has engulfed our society.
I beg you in the words of Abraham Lincoln; please do not yield to the
“peculiar and powerful interests.…With malice toward none; with
charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the
right,...let us strive on to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for
him who shall have borne the battle, ...to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all
nations….The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart, …will yet swell
the chorus,… when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better
angels of our nature”
Sir, I pray you find the strength to make the honorable choice and the
courage to implement it.
Withdraw our military men and women from the Middle East now. Take
them away from the ordeal of continually dealing with the relentless
and senseless mortality which surrounds them. Deal with the cause, not
just the effect.
Again, I am resolved to partake of no food until some concrete
positive action on your part has come to pass. During this time I
shall, if allowed, keep myself available to the public in Lafayette
Square across from the White House.
Respectfully,
Thomas E. Mahany
He's putting his life savings on this, and no one has been standing
with him since it began on the 11th.
Steve Yoczik
202-652-6441
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