I feel like I have been here before and the sights of sounds of my alma mater Kent State University and a tragic May so long ago are renewed in my thoughts. America failed then in a clash of false bravado that was only to leave and ugly scar on the wound in the fabric of America. Nixon couldn’t call it quits, a Republican Governor was damned if he was going to listen to anyone, and a nation was approaching a new civil war. Be careful. Things may not be as noisy as they were then, but this nation is seething in an angry ferment.
40 Years Later, Another March on the Pentagon: Peace Opposition Surfaces Endangering Yet Another Generation of Serviceman and Women As they fail to Understand History and March to the Drum of False Bravado!
Forty years after the March on the Pentagon that Norman Mailer wrote into history in his "The Armies of the Night," a group of anti-war activists is planning a war protest with a large crowd at the same location. And this became the general story line and sound bite for the recent Saturday’s “MARCH ON THE PENTAGON”!
“Only this time, there was a difference. A grassroots group of (Media term: COUNTERPROTESTERS) was on hand at the Mall Saturday, March 17, to defend soldiers and their service.”
The Gathering of Eagles, a grassroots group, launched a Web site, gatheringofeagles.org, on February 10.
Since that time, it has received more than 200,000 visitors. Organizers say the origin of the group stems from a January 27 anti-war demonstration at which a military recruiting station and other landmarks were vandalized.”
40 Years Later, Another March on the Pentagon: Peace Opposition Surfaces Endangering Yet Another Generation of Serviceman and Women As they fail to Understand History and March to the Drum of False Bravado!
Forty years after the March on the Pentagon that Norman Mailer wrote into history in his "The Armies of the Night," a group of anti-war activists is planning a war protest with a large crowd at the same location. And this became the general story line and sound bite for the recent Saturday’s “MARCH ON THE PENTAGON”!
“Only this time, there was a difference. A grassroots group of (Media term: COUNTERPROTESTERS) was on hand at the Mall Saturday, March 17, to defend soldiers and their service.”
The Gathering of Eagles, a grassroots group, launched a Web site, gatheringofeagles.org, on February 10.
Since that time, it has received more than 200,000 visitors. Organizers say the origin of the group stems from a January 27 anti-war demonstration at which a military recruiting station and other landmarks were vandalized.”
I have already given you my opinion of that exaggerated campaign clarion call.
When planners learned that an anti-war protest might start at the site of the Vietnam Memorial, they snapped to action calling for an effort to "stand silent guard over our nation's memorials, in honor of our fallen, and in solidarity with our armed forces in harm's way today."
"The fact that they were gathering at the Vietnam Memorial raised quite a bit of concern," said Harry Riley, a retired colonel who is one of the group's organizers. "It was like throwing fuel on a burning ember for the veteran community and America generally." Mr. Riley, the only people who believe that line are the misguided, misinformed who have learned nothing from history in 40 years. You stand prepared to devour your own like a black widow spider out pure ego instinct. That is sad!
A spokesman for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, the ANSWER Coalition, said his group did not organize the January event, ran "peaceful" demonstrations and never planned to hold a rally at the Vietnam Memorial.
The group acknowledged that it did plan to place the staging area for its march "at Constitutional Gardens" but "there was a logistical problem [causing] it to move two blocks to Henry Bacon Park," said Bill Hackwell, a former Vietnam combat photographer and a spokesman for the group.
At issue was more than the question of the physical maintenance of America's monuments. Spokesmen for the Gathering of Eagles say they want to create an environment to which service men and women can come home with pride. I have much to say as regards that matter later in this post.
"It also has to do with Vietnam veterans seeing history repeating itself. We're beginning to see how Iraq vets are being mistreated," said Kristinn Taylor, a spokesman for the group.
These very misguided “BUSH SEDUCED” need to quickly take off their blinders and take a serious open-minded look at the social and historical dynamics that created the conditions and perceptions of Vietnam Veterans that they so abhor.
Their very actions are about to contribute to the recreation of the identical dynamic and climate of conflict that fashioned that sad page in our nation’s history. The mistreatment of Vietnam Veterans was caused in the main by the horrid polarization of this nation by a government as abusive as the Bush Administration, a government just a tad less corrupt than the current administration.
Colonel Riley, who served in II Corps in the Central Highlands of Vietnam in 1969, said his experience in Vietnam made it important for America to send a message to soldiers in Iraq today. "We want to make sure the troops know that we are behind them," he said. "We want to see them win, not surrender." How many do you want to see die for nothing?
We want them to live and come home honorably. Colonel Riley, you are either a fool, naive or are bent on being a deliberate press/ publicity self- seeking provocateur with an utter and contemptuous disregard for the lives of those you “profess” to honor.
Sir, there is no victory to be had in Iraq short of genocide of that nation. Everyone in the world but George W. Bush and those who would mouth the rubbish you have knows this conflict is drawing to a close. It is only a matter of time and how and when! The real questions confronting us and the world are those of:
(1) How do we live with the horrors we have authored and those that will follow as Iraq spirals back in the inevitable blood bath that will ensue as a new Iraqi Theocratic Dictatorship rises,
(2) How do ensure that those who have faithfully fulfilled their obligations and oaths as members of the armed forces are welcomed home with respect, given the right to all necessary medical care, physical and mental, returned to their jobs without excuses, reintegrated into society and are not consigned to the homeless on our streets?
Colonel Riley said he remembered how the unit he advised, a Vietnamese infantry battalion, was fighting the North Vietnamese regular army, suggesting that the war against the Viet Cong insurgents had been won, but that America let its soldiers down on the home front. The enemy "saw what was happening with the antiwar movement and decided if they held out, the American people would leave," he said.
When planners learned that an anti-war protest might start at the site of the Vietnam Memorial, they snapped to action calling for an effort to "stand silent guard over our nation's memorials, in honor of our fallen, and in solidarity with our armed forces in harm's way today."
"The fact that they were gathering at the Vietnam Memorial raised quite a bit of concern," said Harry Riley, a retired colonel who is one of the group's organizers. "It was like throwing fuel on a burning ember for the veteran community and America generally." Mr. Riley, the only people who believe that line are the misguided, misinformed who have learned nothing from history in 40 years. You stand prepared to devour your own like a black widow spider out pure ego instinct. That is sad!
A spokesman for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, the ANSWER Coalition, said his group did not organize the January event, ran "peaceful" demonstrations and never planned to hold a rally at the Vietnam Memorial.
The group acknowledged that it did plan to place the staging area for its march "at Constitutional Gardens" but "there was a logistical problem [causing] it to move two blocks to Henry Bacon Park," said Bill Hackwell, a former Vietnam combat photographer and a spokesman for the group.
At issue was more than the question of the physical maintenance of America's monuments. Spokesmen for the Gathering of Eagles say they want to create an environment to which service men and women can come home with pride. I have much to say as regards that matter later in this post.
"It also has to do with Vietnam veterans seeing history repeating itself. We're beginning to see how Iraq vets are being mistreated," said Kristinn Taylor, a spokesman for the group.
These very misguided “BUSH SEDUCED” need to quickly take off their blinders and take a serious open-minded look at the social and historical dynamics that created the conditions and perceptions of Vietnam Veterans that they so abhor.
Their very actions are about to contribute to the recreation of the identical dynamic and climate of conflict that fashioned that sad page in our nation’s history. The mistreatment of Vietnam Veterans was caused in the main by the horrid polarization of this nation by a government as abusive as the Bush Administration, a government just a tad less corrupt than the current administration.
Colonel Riley, who served in II Corps in the Central Highlands of Vietnam in 1969, said his experience in Vietnam made it important for America to send a message to soldiers in Iraq today. "We want to make sure the troops know that we are behind them," he said. "We want to see them win, not surrender." How many do you want to see die for nothing?
We want them to live and come home honorably. Colonel Riley, you are either a fool, naive or are bent on being a deliberate press/ publicity self- seeking provocateur with an utter and contemptuous disregard for the lives of those you “profess” to honor.
Sir, there is no victory to be had in Iraq short of genocide of that nation. Everyone in the world but George W. Bush and those who would mouth the rubbish you have knows this conflict is drawing to a close. It is only a matter of time and how and when! The real questions confronting us and the world are those of:
(1) How do we live with the horrors we have authored and those that will follow as Iraq spirals back in the inevitable blood bath that will ensue as a new Iraqi Theocratic Dictatorship rises,
(2) How do ensure that those who have faithfully fulfilled their obligations and oaths as members of the armed forces are welcomed home with respect, given the right to all necessary medical care, physical and mental, returned to their jobs without excuses, reintegrated into society and are not consigned to the homeless on our streets?
Colonel Riley said he remembered how the unit he advised, a Vietnamese infantry battalion, was fighting the North Vietnamese regular army, suggesting that the war against the Viet Cong insurgents had been won, but that America let its soldiers down on the home front. The enemy "saw what was happening with the antiwar movement and decided if they held out, the American people would leave," he said.
That Sir may have been your perception at the time, but if you still cling to that notion as being the truth, you have learned nothing. You have either closed your mind, or been locked away in a mental bunker of your own choosing.
The tactic of third world powers faced with wars conducted by those who they perceive as invaders or occupiers has been that of waiting them out, wearing them down, causing them to squander their weaponry and national treasuries until disaffection with the adventure rises to the level where the “aggressor” is forced to withdraw from a field of battle where no end can be seen and no good purpose can be achieved.
Gathering of Eagles is picking up steam even though there already are plenty of other veterans groups already in existence. The Veterans of Foreign Wars issued a statement about the Eagles' effort that displayed evenhandedness. "The right to peacefully assemble and protest is protected under our Constitution, but lawlessness is not," said the VFW's commander-in-chief, Gary Kurpius. "Enforcing the rule of law is the responsibility of the police, not veterans whose emotions may be running just as high as the protesters."
Each war produces its own soldiers' organizations. The VFW sprung up to service veterans of the Spanish-American War. Members of the American Expeditionary Force founded the American Legion in Paris in 1919. Many Vietnam veterans, out of touch with the World War II generation, joined the Vietnam Veterans of America. Saturday will introduce America to a new group.
We are now on the brink of the 60s where protest (always endeavors to be peaceful), evolved into resistance (always controversial) and resistance dissolved into rebellion (inevitably violent)!
You don’t study history and have taught American History for thirty-one years, while being politically active for so long, without having some experiences you would rather not have had, and witnessed events that sear your conscience so deeply, that when you see the fabric of this nation being shredded, and yet another generation of our young being sent to the slaughter in the guise of “Patriotic Righteous” that you can tolerate the absolute corrosive corruption of our nation with compliant, submissive silence.
This I cannot do. I have buried far too many former students. It is no cliché: “Bush has lied, and they have died.” In the waning days of our Vietnam mistake this nation turned violent. That was no surprise as a resistant political establishment was not listening. It chose not to, and in its’ arrogance they did not perceive that for the third time in our history of the forces of social, political, economic and philosophical ferment had coalesced, not in protest, not in resistance, but in rebellion.
They had done so before our Revolutionary war, and again all of the social movements of the day merged in the Abolition movement before the civil war. At the moment, the multiplicity of elements of social unrest does not carry the power and emotions of the Civil Rights Movement and the counter culture of the 60s that fueled the out break of violence.
This time the danger, the flash point is smoldering, hidden by the reluctance of the media to explore and expose it, and a public nearly in a narcotic-like Bush Administration induced feeling of helplessness. The fact remains there exists, at the same time, a frightening polarization in this nation that requires only a single spark to touch off the explosion. It will come, if the Congress continues down its’ current path of pathetic scripting and political posturing, its’ primary concern the 2008 Elections.
The spark will come somewhere on a protest line where the forces for ending this war and Impeaching this Corrupt Regime clash with the super patriots, filled pride and demented in the belief that the force of arms and more blood shed in the sands of Iraq will produce a host of confetti filled blue sky patriot welcome home parades.
That’s not going to happen. This war has already been sullied and painted with disgrace by The President of The United States. I do no wish to see our soldiers treated as were the returning veterans of Vietnam, but everyone had better wake up to the reality that, that disgrace was brought on by a polarization that could only be ended in bloodshed here at home. When things dissolve to that point understanding and toleration, acceptance and respect are abandoned in the absence of reason, and the hatred of confrontation inherent in rebellion prevails.
We are headed there again. The fuse is burning down; it will take only on spark and we will revisit past clashes. People just don’t understand. This President and his administration think you the American people are a stupid flock of sheep that they can manipulate.
So far they have been successful. On one side of the yellow tape line that divides protestor from counter protestor we find those committed to saving the lives of our young and dedicated to the rule of law as provided in our heritage of documents from The declaration of Independence to the Constitution, on the other side of the fragile symbolic tape we find those who fancy themselves the saviors of our great tradition of military service, death in whatever number so long as one can declare victory.The tactic of third world powers faced with wars conducted by those who they perceive as invaders or occupiers has been that of waiting them out, wearing them down, causing them to squander their weaponry and national treasuries until disaffection with the adventure rises to the level where the “aggressor” is forced to withdraw from a field of battle where no end can be seen and no good purpose can be achieved.
Gathering of Eagles is picking up steam even though there already are plenty of other veterans groups already in existence. The Veterans of Foreign Wars issued a statement about the Eagles' effort that displayed evenhandedness. "The right to peacefully assemble and protest is protected under our Constitution, but lawlessness is not," said the VFW's commander-in-chief, Gary Kurpius. "Enforcing the rule of law is the responsibility of the police, not veterans whose emotions may be running just as high as the protesters."
Each war produces its own soldiers' organizations. The VFW sprung up to service veterans of the Spanish-American War. Members of the American Expeditionary Force founded the American Legion in Paris in 1919. Many Vietnam veterans, out of touch with the World War II generation, joined the Vietnam Veterans of America. Saturday will introduce America to a new group.
We are now on the brink of the 60s where protest (always endeavors to be peaceful), evolved into resistance (always controversial) and resistance dissolved into rebellion (inevitably violent)!
You don’t study history and have taught American History for thirty-one years, while being politically active for so long, without having some experiences you would rather not have had, and witnessed events that sear your conscience so deeply, that when you see the fabric of this nation being shredded, and yet another generation of our young being sent to the slaughter in the guise of “Patriotic Righteous” that you can tolerate the absolute corrosive corruption of our nation with compliant, submissive silence.
This I cannot do. I have buried far too many former students. It is no cliché: “Bush has lied, and they have died.” In the waning days of our Vietnam mistake this nation turned violent. That was no surprise as a resistant political establishment was not listening. It chose not to, and in its’ arrogance they did not perceive that for the third time in our history of the forces of social, political, economic and philosophical ferment had coalesced, not in protest, not in resistance, but in rebellion.
They had done so before our Revolutionary war, and again all of the social movements of the day merged in the Abolition movement before the civil war. At the moment, the multiplicity of elements of social unrest does not carry the power and emotions of the Civil Rights Movement and the counter culture of the 60s that fueled the out break of violence.
This time the danger, the flash point is smoldering, hidden by the reluctance of the media to explore and expose it, and a public nearly in a narcotic-like Bush Administration induced feeling of helplessness. The fact remains there exists, at the same time, a frightening polarization in this nation that requires only a single spark to touch off the explosion. It will come, if the Congress continues down its’ current path of pathetic scripting and political posturing, its’ primary concern the 2008 Elections.
The spark will come somewhere on a protest line where the forces for ending this war and Impeaching this Corrupt Regime clash with the super patriots, filled pride and demented in the belief that the force of arms and more blood shed in the sands of Iraq will produce a host of confetti filled blue sky patriot welcome home parades.
That’s not going to happen. This war has already been sullied and painted with disgrace by The President of The United States. I do no wish to see our soldiers treated as were the returning veterans of Vietnam, but everyone had better wake up to the reality that, that disgrace was brought on by a polarization that could only be ended in bloodshed here at home. When things dissolve to that point understanding and toleration, acceptance and respect are abandoned in the absence of reason, and the hatred of confrontation inherent in rebellion prevails.
We are headed there again. The fuse is burning down; it will take only on spark and we will revisit past clashes. People just don’t understand. This President and his administration think you the American people are a stupid flock of sheep that they can manipulate.
They are the Fascist of America whether they know it or not, their minds filled with the tune of Onward Christian Soldiers while they wrap themselves in the Flag. They are the visual and philosophical embodiment and Sinclair Lewis’ oft quote line that: “When Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” They are here, true believers that God will grant us victory and we will as a nation rise to omniscience world wide.
They are the manipulated. The strains of Nazi Germany’s music Das Lied der Deutschen or the more familiar Panzerwagenlied that gives them goose bumps every time they see the Old Battle of The Bulge Movie. Their fantasies are dangerous. Oh, but we on the other side of the fragile tape hear “We shall Overcome” ringing in our heads, and you know as well as I do; that we mean it.
We travel not with the pride of a World War II, Korea or Vietnam in our souls; we march to the spirit of 76 armed with the prescription of right and duty bestowed upon us by The Declaration Of Independence and the rightful, righteous heirs of that spirit of resistance, rebellion and revolution. We are dangerous in our right.
There is no room for compromise when the flash and clash comes. It does not have to be inevitability, and the prevention of that looming reality falls into the hands of the political leaders of this nation who must be persuaded to abandon their pompous, posturing politics and poll driven scripted pursuit of The White House. It is their duty to end the bloodshed of Iraq and prevent the shedding of the blood of resistance and rebellion in our American streets.
The 58,000 U.S. soldiers who lost their lives in Vietnam and millions of Vietnamese killed, died in a criminal war. The connection between Vietnam and Iraq could not be clearer. Iraq is also a criminal war of aggression. The central issue today, just as it was in 1967, is to bring the war to an end.
We all know how that ended, and we not repeat the experience, but as you have read these words you must have sensed by now that I am not long on faith that this conflict can be ended in a rational manner. It has been said time and again that such conflicts in America are not resolved in the halls of Congress, but in the hand to hand of our streets.There is no room for compromise when the flash and clash comes. It does not have to be inevitability, and the prevention of that looming reality falls into the hands of the political leaders of this nation who must be persuaded to abandon their pompous, posturing politics and poll driven scripted pursuit of The White House. It is their duty to end the bloodshed of Iraq and prevent the shedding of the blood of resistance and rebellion in our American streets.
The 58,000 U.S. soldiers who lost their lives in Vietnam and millions of Vietnamese killed, died in a criminal war. The connection between Vietnam and Iraq could not be clearer. Iraq is also a criminal war of aggression. The central issue today, just as it was in 1967, is to bring the war to an end.
We who wear the ring of “The Campus of The Four Crosses” that theme-heads this post know the price of protest, resistance and rebellion, but we can hope.
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