LEGIONAIRRE’S DISEASE STRIKES IN BOSTON

LEGIONAIRRE’S DISEASE STRIKES IN BOSTON; CURIOUSLY STRIKING ONLY LIBERAL MINDED VETERANS?

THERE IS A REAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RESPECT FOR OUR SERVICEMAN AND FOR THIS ADMINISTRATION. DO NOT CONFUSE THE TWO…WE DID IN THE VIETNAM ERA, AND WE ARE CLOSE TO PAINTING ALL INVOLVBED WITH THE SAME BROAD BRUSH IN THE STREETS!

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1044036

BOSTON - Several anti-war veterans were arrested Sunday when they protested their exclusion from a Veterans Day event outside Boston City Hall.

The Boston chapter of a group called Veterans for Peace estimated that 15 of its members and supporters were arrested when they refused to move away from the podium at an event sponsored by the American Legion. Boston Police said several arrests were made, but did not have an exact number.

"We’re opposed to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, we’re opposed to the planned invasion of Iran," said Winston Warfield, a Vietnam War veteran and member of the group. "A lot of veterans view us as traitors."

Warfield said the American Legion rejected their request to have a speaker at the event on City Hall Plaza. An after-hours call to the American Legion office in Boston was not immediately returned Sunday.

"From our point of view, it’s a public affair," Warfield said, despite U.S. Supreme Court precedent that allows private groups that obtain proper permits to choose who can participate in their events.

Earlier Sunday, Gov. Deval Patrick and U.S. Sen. John Kerry honored five surviving members of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen, the first group of black fighter pilots allowed into the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Patrick presented the men with their Congressional Gold Medals. They are William M. Bennett, Charles Diggs, George W. Giddings, James McLaurin, and Willis Saunders.

"It is an honor to formally recognize these heroic pioneers," said Patrick, the state’s first black governor. "Their bravery and ability to rise to the challenges of the time and of war will be forever remembered, as will the great courage of all the men and women who have served our country in the past and who do so now across the world."

The Statehouse event included a tribute to women veterans, led by Air Force Capt. Jenny D’Olympia.

Approximately 15 members of the Veterans for Peace organization were arrested yesterday afternoon as they protested being blocked from the city's Veterans Day parade.

The American Legion did not allow the peace activists to march in the parade holding signs against the war in Iraq, claiming the parade was "non-political" and was meant to honor past and current soldiers.

As the parade led to a ceremony in City Hall Plaza, about 25 members of the peace group stood in front of the stage wearing gags.

Kate Flaherty of South Boston, a member of Veterans for Peace, said the police warned the group several times they would be arrested if they did not move.
Saying nothing, the group remained and the police warned them again, Flaherty said.
Eventually, according to another eyewitness, the police asked the protestors if any had heart conditions. The ones that did were gently moved aside and those that remained were arrested.

"They came up and made their point. They should have gone off," American Legion commander Arthur Smith said. "I'm sorry the Veterans for Peace forced the police to remove them."

Warfield said the incident was "symbolic (of the) disease afflicting free speech" and Flaherty said "hopefully" the group's anti-war views would rate attention because of the arrests.

"If they had been accepted to speak this wouldn't have happened," said Flaherty. Boston Police had not provided a complete tally of those arrested as of press time. Slideshow: Click Here)

How Not to Pay Respect (My Comment: People Have Forgotten Already What Created The Vietnam Era Mentality and Attitude…I Have Warned You Of What Is Developing)

Some 20 million U.S. citizens are veterans, and, since Sept. 11, about two million have volunteered to wear the uniform. They deserve our respect. And, for the injuries they have sustained in the nation's service, they deserve our care.

Yet, for the second time in my generation, we are in a prolonged war that is tearing the nation apart. The rift was on display this Veterans Day, as political partisans -- from the president on down -- turned the act of paying respect into an argument about the Iraq war.

During a speech at an American Legion post in Waco, Texas yesterday, President Bush invoked Sept. 11 and the threat of terrorism. "The enemies who attacked us six years ago want to strike our country again -- and next time, they hope to kill Americans on a scale that will make 9/11 pale by comparison," he said. "By fighting this enemy in foreign lands, the men and women of our Armed Forces are helping to ensure we do not have to face them in our own land. And by spreading the hope of liberty to nations that have not known it, our troops are helping to defeat the ideology of the terrorists -- and secure a future of peace for generations to come."

To the families of those who died in Iraq, Bush said, "your loved ones served a cause that is good, and just, and noble. And, as their commander-in-chief, I make you this promise: Their sacrifice will not be in vain."

Meanwhile, in Denver, anti-war veterans won the right to march in the city's annual Veterans Day parade. They passed out leaflets and carried signs declaring "Iraq is Just Vietnam in the Desert" and "Bush Lies."

In Boston, anti-war veterans were arrested protesting their exclusion from an American Legion event outside City Hall.

And, in Kansas City, vandals kicked down thousands of tiny American flags that memorialized American troops who died in Iraq. They left behind a cardboard sign reading "Murderers." (Ironically, the couple who constructed the memorial last July are against the war.)

On a day with no shortage of examples of offensive display, one of the rare moments of appropriate observance came from, of all people, Dick Cheney. "The conduct of our military today, as throughout our nation's history, makes this country very proud," the vice president said at Arlington National Cemetery. "And it's our prayer that they'll return in victory, safely home, to live out their lives and to be here to observe many Veterans Days to come."

I fear for our country if we do not find an honorable exit from Iraq, if we do not find a different way to speak about the military divide in our nation, and if we can not put the "war" against terrorism into proper perspective.

"Go find another parade!" one man yelled at anti-war protestors in Denver yesterday.

AND, YET, THERE IS NO OTHER PARADE.