Mia Farrow's Brother, a Suicide, Had Slammed Iraq War After Nephew Died

As reported here, and elsewhere, earlier today, the actress Mia Farrow's brother, Patrick Farrow, 66, was found dead in his sculptor studio in Vermont. It has now been declared a suicide by local authorities (due to a single gunshot to the head). His connection to a famous sister naturally drew headlines but his name rang a bell for me for another reason: I had written about him here last year following the death of his (and her) nephew in Iraq.

Patrick Farrow quickly called President Bush a "war criminal."

Here is how I wrote about it then:

Sgt. Jason Dene, the nephew of actress and activist Mia Farrow, died in Iraq last week and his uncle blames the "war criminal" George W. Bush for the loss. Mia Farrow has written a sad tribute on her site but Dene's uncle, Patrick V. Farrow, took his anger to the Letters section of the Rutland (Vt.) Herald two days ago.

Dene, in his mid-30s and married with children, is yet another in the growing list of "noncombat" fatalities in Iraq. I have studied these tragedies for almost five years (and written about them often here). In this case, medical complications appear to be at issue. Patrick Farrow, of Castleton, Vt., writes, "To date all the family has heard from the Army is that Jason variously died 'in his sleep' and 'in his bunk' and 'in his quarters' and my favorite 'sleep apnea complicated by smoking cigarettes,' in other words, natural causes."

Whatever the cause, Patrick Farrow knows what really killed his nephew: "Because of the arrogant, corrupt lies of George W. Bush and his neo-con handlers my nephew is dead, and I am mad as hell...Jason Dene was not killed by enemy fire nor friendly fire but by Bush's brutal and cynical stop-loss program."

Because of Bush's abusive stop-loss policy, Jason had been sent into an unwanted third tour of duty. He was a father of three and could not afford to lose his pension. Some "volunteer Army."

During his three 15-month tours in Iraq, exposure to roadside bombs and other job-related injuries caused Jason to be hospitalized several times for concussion and internal bleeding and other injuries. Recently, Jason's condition was such that the Department of Defense flew him from Iraq to Dover Air Force Base for surgery. He was released from the hospital into the loving arms of the government who sent him directly back into Iraq. He was put on active duty while he was still on a liquid diet, unable to eat solid food because of a throat hemorrhage due to a botched surgery at a military hospital.

After his second tour Jason returned home with severe mental and physical issues. He was certainly in no condition to be pressed into a third tour. He wanted out of the army. But Jason was a victim of the liar's back-door draft...

Because of George Bush, the arrogant, the corrupt, the liar, the war criminal, my nephew is dead and my sister and the rest of my family are devastated.

Mia Farrow had written:

I don't know what Jason died for....This war is as incomprehensible as it is unacceptable. In a cloud of confusion, politicians, generals and ordinary people have come to see that it is a disaster. Exit plans are being discussed while Iraqi citizens and young Americans like our Jason are being killed.

My sister is a nurse. For long years has lived in fear of the day when the two uniformed men came to her door to deliver the most terrible news a mother could hear. I hope I never see George W Bush. I could not shake his hand. He and his cabal have killed my beautiful nephew. . May God, if there is one, forgive them. I cannot....How many more must die before this atrocity is ended?

Greg Mitchell's latest books are "Why Obama Won" and "So Wrong for So Long" (on Iraq and the media). He is editor of Editor & Publisher.

Comments

[LMPE]

Every politician ought to be attached to a lie detector when talking.

[rektruax]

Those devices have been clearly shown to be more a psychological tool than an actual truth interpreter. About as accurate as tea leaves or goat entrails.

[Norge]

Yes it is tragic though an army can only continue so long it has the bodies of people who willing partisipate and the whole army of medical staff who willing patch them back together so they can continue to be part of the brutality.

All of the personel partisipating do not have guns held to their heads.

[coastalcarla]

Not true. Those that served their time and are being kept beyond that through stop loss are being forced. I know someone that had 20 years in and was two weeks from officially retiring when they stop lossed him and sent him back to Iraq. The new recruits are volunteers. The ones that should be out but are being forced to stay in way past their time are not.

[Norge]

coastalcarla

Perhaps they lack the courage to say "No, I will not go".

[JimR]

That is very sad. My thoughts and prayers are with the family.

[FloresdelaHoz]

Bring back the draft with no deferments so that all Americans fight rather than the working and middle class. The GOP will think twice about sending our young men and women in harms way if they know their kids and the kids of their rich friends also have to fight and die.

[Stephen Jones]

And your military will suffer immensely because of it, added to that a breach of human rights?

Wanting the draft back just to put rich kids in the front line seems twisted to me.

[coastalcarla]

Maybe less rich politicians would be so quick to go to war if their precious darlings were in danger of being forced to fight them.

[roshni]

My deepest sympathy to the family for all the losses they have had to bear. Bush must pay for his war crimes.

[larry278]

To rain on your parade, roshni, Pres Obama won't ever allow W to be tried for his war crimes or W's many other crimes.

[Janet Carter]

That is so very sad. We must bring our men and women home from Iraq AND Afghanistan. I just can't see sending 30,000 troops to Afghanistan - for WHAT? To lose even more troops?

[annis]

Oh, my God.

[FoundingMothers]

Rest in peace Patrick Farrow.

Your family deserves a full explanation of your nephew Jason's death.

[lillibelle]

W's war. Too, too tragic.

"Sleep apnea?" Who wouldn't be enraged or pushed to the brink?

[mddem]

Thank you, Greg, for helping us put this tragic event into perspective. These wars have had so many casualties. Mr. Farrow is just one more.

I hope his family finds the peace he so longed for.

[plaidsportcoat]

It's continual platitudes like this that keep people from doing the action in the street that might stop the war.

[CAgal]

Thank you for this article. Powerful words of anguish and anger. I agree with everthing he said.

May Patrick Farrow RIP.

[LTBROWN]

I cosign you. This angers me so much. The fact it's true, infuriates me. Who are we? Not just to the rest of the world but to ourselves? Ha?

[alicetilden]

I also agree with CAgal's comment. How much longer do our troops have to suffer for a useless war? Since we don't have a draft, many people don't realize how hard this is for the military and their families. The can't refuse or they will lose their pensions. So sad.