Another casualty of Bush's illegal war.

Mr. Ritscher burned himself alive to bring attention to the horrible things that his country was doing to innocent people abroad in his name, and financed with his taxes. The burden was too much for Mr. Ritscher.

I do not want his death to have been in vain. Here is the suicide note that he posted online.

The violent turmoil initiated by the United States military invasion of Iraq will beget future centuries of slaughter, if the human race lasts that long. First we spit on the United Nations, then we expect them to clean up our mess. Our elected representatives are supposed to find diplomatic and benevolent solutions to these situations. Anyone can lash out and retaliate, that is not leadership or vision. Where is the wisdom and honor of the people we delegate our trust to?

To the rest of the world we are cowards - demanding Iraq to disarm, and after they comply, we attack with remote-control high-tech video-game weapons. And then lie about our reasons for invading. We the people bear complete responsibility for all that will follow, and it won't be pretty.

I hope that this new congress can help to relieve the sense of helplessness that many Americans feel so that there will be no future Malachi Ritschers.