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 codirected 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. Im 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, im 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 obamas 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. Obamas 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. Obamas 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 albaghdadi, 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 veterans 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 departments 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 sixhour 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 weeks 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. Secretarygeneral ban kimoon has announced the creation of a panel to investigate deaths and damage to u. N. Facilities during this summers 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 chicagoarea. 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 rerelease from hospital today after being declared ebola free. Dr. Craig spencer was the citys 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 lowlevel 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 Abujamal 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 abujamal 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 30yearold audio recording has been released publicly for the first time which shows then u. S. President Ronald Reagan apologizing to british Prime MinisterMargaret 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 proamerican 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 president ial medal of freedom. President obama named james chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner among the winners of this years medal, the highest civilian honor in the United States. Other recipients of this years 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. Im amy goodman. As the nation marks veterans day, we begin todays 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 youngs 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 president ial dish sounding a bit president ial. [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. Lets 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, were 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. Im 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 codirected 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 heres 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 t4 bristly bullets t4 on thend exited spine so hes paralyzed from the nipples down. I said, people should see this. This is the most sanitized war of my lifetime. If youre 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. Thats 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 mustve said, thank god we dont 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 antispasm 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 im 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 fiveyear professional relationship with me. Her work is very evident in the film, i think. Where going to go to break. When we come back, were 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 wellknown 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 youngs 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 im 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. Lets 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. Were 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