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From the National Office
By Joe Miller
[Printer-Friendly Version]
Welcome to the
Spring/Summer 2003 issue of The Veteran!
First of all, we'd like to
thank the hundreds of you who have newly joined or rejoined Vietnam
Veterans Against the War in the past six months. This has been a
tremendous show of support and a signal of the continued relevance of
the veterans' peace and justice movement. This is also a sign that we
are not about to be silenced in Bush's America. We "old soldiers" (and
sailors and airmen/women) are not even going to "fade away"! This is
something to be celebrated and something we must use to continue our
long-term struggle for peace and social justice here and abroad.
Articles in this issue will reflect the high degree of involvement of
war veterans in the global opposition to Bush's war in Iraq, and we need
to be prepared to continue and deepen our involvement in such efforts.
With every war, new veterans are recruited to our movement, as they come
to recognize that the idealism that took them into military service had
been betrayed by the political and economic elites who make policy. Most
of us in VVAW were these idealistic young men or women who enlisted in
the service. We were "educated" to believe that our country was always
in the right, and each successive generation of veterans has had to
learn the hard way that this is seldom, if ever, true. In this issue, we
hear from "Buzz" Doyle, a combat veteran of the 1990-91 Gulf War, who
joined VVAW soon after he returned home. He is only one of the many Gulf
War vets who found us to be a welcoming place. How many will come to us
from this latest war?
As the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld "axis of evil" sent
young men and women to fight and die in an illegal war against Iraq,
they were trumpeting the notion that "real" support for the troops meant
to just shut up. At the very same time, the Republican-dominated House
Budget Committee was "supporting" the troops by their attempt to cut
veterans' benefits by some $25 billion over the next ten years. While
this may have been temporarily pushed back, we know that they continue
to make cuts and will always try to fight these wars on the cheap. To
them, the troops are expendable, just another commodity.
And, make no
mistake; there will be serious physical health issues coming out of this
war, given the cavalier attitude of the Bush administration toward the
use of weapons that contain depleted uranium. They even refuse to clean
up the battlefield, arguing that depleted uranium poses no health risks
to the GIs or to the local residents.
We should also be prepared for
veterans of this war to come home with serious psychological problems
derived from post-traumatic stress disorder. They shall join veterans
from previous wars in this category. We have already witnessed increased
stress levels among earlier generations of veterans. On April 11, the
Chicago Tribune published a report which stated, "Across the country,
visits to Veterans Affairs counseling centers have spiked over the past
several weeks, as gulf war vets experience flashbacks, nightmares, waves
of depression and panic attacks, officials report."
Pay close attention
to the reports coming out of the war theater about troops feeling
"anguish" or "remorse" concerning their involvement in Bush's war. What
will these young people come home to? Will the planned "welcome home"
parades with rivers of red, white and blue make them feel better? How
ready will they be to talk about their experiences and the real feelings
they have about participation in this popular, but illegal, war? Who
will be there to listen to them?
As with the previous Gulf War, VVAW
will be there to provide counsel and support and a place to get active
for these men and women. While the government and many in the larger
society will forget all about their "support" for the troops, once the
war is "won" and "Johnny [and Jane] come marching home," we in the peace
and social justice movement must embrace these unrecognized victims of
the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld policies.
All VVAW members and supporters
should be prepared to continue our efforts for peace and social justice
in whatever way we can. We should be involved in our local communities
to deepen and strengthen the opposition to a new American Empire. We
should look out for every opportunity to assist in "regime change" here
at home in 2004.
Simply put, get involved! Celebrate our victories, no
matter how small! Make a difference!
Joe Miller is a national coordinator of VVAW.
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