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Veterans for Peace
by James Glaser November 12, 2007 I'm not writing about the organization named "Veterans for Peace," rather I am writing about the millions of Americans veterans who want our country to be at peace. Almost every VFW post or Legion hall has a few loudmouths who talk about wanting to "kill the commies" or maybe now it is the "rag heads." If you actually have a conversation with vets like that you usually find they never killed anyone, but they still think it is a good idea. Most veterans who have had to kill somebody in combat don't feel all that good about it. Most of the time it was a kill or be killed situation. Sure there are those few guys, who believe they have to kill somebody while serving in a war zone, but many times that somebody ends up being a non-combatant, and those vets have to live with that murder on their conscience for the rest of their lives. The vast majority of combat veterans don't like the idea of going to war, especially after having done it. Many will work hard to keep their children from enlisting. It is almost universal that the people in our government who are backing George Bush's wars have never fought in one themselves. Colin Powell would be an exception, but then Colin is a weird duck when it comes to military action. In Vietnam, Powell tried unsuccessfully to white wash the reports of the My Lai Massacre, where American troops shot and killed hundreds of innocent women and children. So, if a guy will try to cover up something like that, lying us into a war in Iraq isn't really that much of a stretch. American combat veterans are usually "veterans for peace." They aren't out there in the parade, nor are they pushing the politicians to start new wars, but to a man, I think they would be willing to put their uniform back on to defend our borders. Also, most combat veterans would be and are upset with our current unprovoked war against a country (Iraq) that never attacked us. There are many Veteran Day Parades across America this weekend, and many of those parade organizers refuse to allow any organized or unorganized groups of veterans for peace to march. You can almost bet those parade organizers never made it to any combat zone. |
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