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10/23/04

Guest Columnist:
The Opinion of One Vietnam Vet

The following article is eerily reminiscent of soldier talk in Vietnam.  Often Senator Kerry is accused by President Bush of talking against the troops and not supporting them. The reality is that the troops and their families have been seeing the real effects of the war in a way that we, the opponents of the Iraq invasion, never have nor will. Now our soldiers are finding out that in fact there have not been any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq since 1991(Duelfer report).

What our young men and women are now facing is a bonafide quagmire. At least four different subgroups, with different political agendas and tactics are being used against them.   Listening to these marines it sounds like a "My Lai " (Abu Gharib?) or troop refusal of orders or worse is just around the corner. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

I might remind everyone that the movement against the Vietnam War gained qualitative strength as returning veterans joined and often led the protests. Senator Kerry was just one of the 50,000 vets who joined the movement.  Some, like Kerry led; some followed and some, like in any movement, said "yah that's me".  The truth is we helped to stop the war and kept the black wall of names from being even longer.

Support the troops in war based on lies, or lose the support of the troops?

Robie - Vietnam Vet and Anti-War Activist