From a multitude of sources comes the disturbing news that far too many of our soldiers are committing suicide upon return to the United States from Iraq, or while still in country. We ought to ask why.

Perhaps we may get a clue from a portion of the great novel “Brothers Karamazov,” in which the Grand Inquisitor says it is not enough just to live — people must have a reason to live.

Several hundred thousand young American men and women in the standing army and National Guard have been sent to Iraq since our government decided to launch its “preemptive” war against Saddam Hussein.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

One of the alleged reasons for invading Iraq was that the country was a central front in the war against terrorism. We were allegedly striking back at the wicked people who were responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Repeated investigations have since revealed that Iraq had no part whatsoever in the September 11 atrocities.

We were also told that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Investigation after investigation since has revealed that Iraq had dumped all its weapons after the Gulf War.

We had no reason to be in Iraq. But thousands of young Americans were called upon to risk their lives and to kill or be killed, day after day, year after year.

It is no wonder that some of them have come to hate what they were ordered to do. As many of them likely saw it, there was no way out of this ugly world in which they were entrapped.

Some may have developed a sense of guilt. Some may have simply gone mad. Whatever the case might be, they wanted a quick exit from this maddening world.

We ought to ask why.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount