Did V V A W betray the troops by protesting the war?

[pinkpops]

http://www.vvaw.org/faq/

Though our military and our government may attempt to portray "the troops" as a homogeneous group ¨¢ the military is made up of individuals. As many currentVVAW members who were fighting in Vietnam in 1971 will tell you, VVAW was trying to stop the senseless waste of life. Whenever there has been a choice between the welfare of GI's and the interests of politicians, VVAW has always chosen support the welfare of fighting men and women (Stacewicz, 196-229). Honor the warrior not the war.

[nagbacalan]

1. Absolutely not!

[HawkerHurricane]

2. No.

Next question.

Seriously, Vietnam (and Iraq) are wars of imperium, not to keep the nation safe.

[Faygo Kid]

3. I admired the hell out of VVAW. Old enough to remember.

I avoided The War because of a high draft number (247, 1970, no one ever forgets their lottery number). I admired VVAW like crazy, and Kerry, too. They would have betrayed the troops by NOT protesting the war, and by the way - they were the troops. They were just great; all the credibility in the world, despite Nixon's attacks on them.

[Elwood P Dowd]

4. I was in the Army in 1971

working in Washington. All of us supported Kerry, as did my friends who were stationed in SE Asia. Everyone wanted the damn war over. How many thousands more would have died had their not been so many protests?

Why so many Americans cannot understand this is beyond me. Those who actually "betrayed" the troops were the ones supporting the war.

[Tactical Progressive]

5. That's a good idea for Kerry

The way you put that.

Kerry should refer to the Vietnam Veterans Against the War when responding to the latest chickenhawk vomit.

Let BushCo's attempts to throw feces on Kerry go against the group that probably has the most right of anyone to criticize the war.

Kerry should continue to attack Bush for being a deserter.

[pinkpops]

7. Yeah - I posted the question but it was not my question it

was in the vvaw FAQ. They appear to have quite a few members (still).

[leftbend]

6. No

[FlemingsGhost]

8. Betray them? They helped get them out of there.

If anything, they save some lives.

[Warpy]

9. I was around back then, in the thick of it

...and no, they didn't betray the troops. Their criticism was entirely of the lies that had gotten us into that war, the idiotic and hamfistedly incompetent conduct of that war, and the continued lies that kept it going. They supported the guys they'd left behind to finish their hitches, and they wanted them HOME. We all did.

It's kind of like we're against the Iraq fiasco. We know the troops there are doing the best they can with a Walmartized occupation and a stupidly bungled postwar period that brought in overpaid US contractors instead of putting Iraqis back to work and giving them a little hope. We support our children, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles. We do NOT support the crackpot ideologues in the Pentagon who lied a malleable doofus into sending them there.

[kentuck]

10. When I heard that John Kerry was leading the V V A W.....

I thought it was great. I had returned a few months before Kerry and I knew what a mess we had over there and so did many other Nam vets. He was courageous to stand up to Nixon's crowd. He was a hero without his military medals.

[bobthedrummer]

11. NO, the road to peace is guarded by veterans.

[Leilani]

12. The Vietnam Vets I knew, & there were many of them

felt if you had gone to fight, like Kerry, you had the right to say anything you pleased. You had EARNED the right.

A lot of vets I knew did not like the so called hippies.

[pinkpops]

14. You would think they had earned the right

Aint it amazing how some people still try to deprive them?

[NMDemDist2]

13. i remember the 1st Tonight Show after 9/11 with McCain and CS&N

i will never forget Crosby saying to McCain "we were trying to bring you home, man, we were supporting the troops the best way we knew" <paraphrased>

[bemildred]

15. How the hell is it "betraying the troops" to want them home?

Huh? How?

[bemildred]

16. I mean, shit, do the troops want to be home?

Yes! Fuck yes, they want to be home. That asshole
in the White House and his minions are the ones betraying
the troops, sending them over there on a feckless enterprise
for political reasons. Don't make me puke. :puke:

[pinkpops]

17. It sure seems like they would rather be home

but I'm not sure the ones who are returning have found the courage to do as Kerry and others did, i.e. use their credibility to affect the outcome.

[bemildred]

18. They will if this goes on long enough.

It is worth remembering that the VietNam war resistance
took a long time to build. We will have pissed off vets
in no time with this debacle. There is a contract between
military men and their commanders that says the soldiers
life is expendable, but there is a requirement that the
cause be worthy, and the commanders be competent, and when
that contract is violated in an egregious way there is no
sort of bullshit that will paper it over.