Sunday, November 11, 2007

Taking a blow from pursuing filthy lucre

Spotty fired up the 'tubes this morning before reading the Sunday paper, and he saw this on Juan Cole's Informed Comment:

On Veterans Day, think about the thousands of US dead and wounded in Iraq (for what purpose, exactly?), and think about Iraqi Veterans against the War as Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman suggests.

Typically this group and others like it are being denied a voice in public commemorations of the veterans (who apparently should be honored but should not actually be allowed to speak for themselves.)

There is indeed irony in the bellow of chicken hawks like Rush Limbaugh that veterans against the war are "phony soldiers."

Nick's column, linked above, is definitely worth a read:

Wes Davey, drafted during the Vietnam War, thought America learned a lesson in Vietnam. He never thought he'd spend his 54th birthday in Baghdad, or that a son would serve there, too.

Brandon Day carries the names of 11 dead comrades tattooed on his right arm. But you don't need to see the tattoos to see his pain. It's in his eyes.

And Raymond Camper is one of the Minnesota National Guard members who served a longer stretch in Iraq than any other U.S. troops deployed there.

Camper, Davey and Day share more than their time in uniform. They share the anger and disenchantment of many veterans who have returned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also share a determination to speak out.

When people like Limbaugh, Katie, Johnny Rocketseed, Janet, and a host of others say that they honor veterans but don't even want to listen to them if the vet has an opinion contrary to their own, you have to wonder if it's the veteran or the war that is being honored.

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