Letters to the editor: Don’t let our leaders send troops into another senseless war

I want to apologize to Dave Patterson for his treatment when he returned home. (“Summit County Vietnam veteran reflects on Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C.” published Sept. 23 in the Summit Daily News.) No soldier should be spat upon or called a baby killer. I knew that back when I was protesting the war, and in and around Berkley there was no one saying that about any service member. We did hate the people running the war. “Hey, Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” was a common chant, along with others about Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and “Wastemoreland.”

But the speakers I heard at demonstrations, and the papers I read, talked about U.S. soldiers as our brothers. We knew that the rich kids had exemptions, but middle class and working men were either lucky or in uniform. We wanted to bring you back home. A 1971 Harris Poll survey that found that 99% of veterans said their reception from friends and family had been friendly and 94% said their reception from age-group peers was friendly.

Afghanistan is the longest war we have ever fought. So far, 775,000 U.S. troops have been deployed there, and about half have been deployed there two or more times. Two were killed last month. Our president has promised to end this war, but he has broken off talks with the Taliban. Please let him know how important it is that we bring all of our troops home now.

Even more important: Don’t let our leaders send our troops into another senseless war. Don’t believe their lies about weapons of mass destruction or the communist threat in Southeast Asia. Is Iran next?

via:: Summit Daily