<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div dir="ltr"><span>Thanks Carl. Here is a revised version.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_5999"><div dir="ltr"><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6696" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6695" style='color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6694" face="Calibri">As we observe 50-year anniversaries pertaining to the Vietnam War,
it’s important that an accurate account of that era be differentiated from
patriotic sentimentality regarding veterans. This effort towards truth and
perhaps reconciliation should apply to any war in our history, but especially
to those since World War II, all of which relate to efforts to obtain global
hegemony for a class of individuals now referred to as the “one percent.”
Victims of these wars can be counted in millions, a very small percentage of
them Americans.</font></span></div><div dir="ltr"><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6687" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6686" style='color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6685" face="Calibri">The Vietnam War was illegal, immoral, genocidal, and based on lies
from the start. By 1968, a majority of Americans viewed it as not just
impractical, but immoral. A majority of the generation of young men of that
era, including me, refused to fight. They (we) expressed that refusal by
avoiding the draft, conscientious objection, avoiding combat, refusing orders
to engage in combat, and even killing their commanding officers. </font></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6006" dir="ltr"><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6005" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6004" style='color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6003" face="Calibri">Wikipedia reports that 230 American officers were killed by their
own troops, and 1,400 deaths of officers could not be explained. However one
judges these acts, it’s important to stress that they were related to a general
revolt of soldiers against the war.</font></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6002" dir="ltr"><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_5998" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6001" lang="EN" style='color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN;'><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429533737900_6000" face="Calibri">Criminal political leaders were responsible
for this war, and by 1968 the American people were trying to stop them.
Unfortunately, this pattern has been repeated in the last 15 years, but with
less success by resistors. To invoke the famous words of Pete Seeger: “When
will we ever learn?”</font></span></div><div dir="ltr"><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></span><div dir="ltr"><br></div> <br><div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> On Monday, April 20, 2015 5:04 AM, Carl G. Estabrook <galliher@illinois.edu> wrote:<br> </font> </div> <blockquote style="padding-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: 5px; border-left-color: rgb(16, 16, 255); border-left-width: 2px; border-left-style: solid;"> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container"><div id="yiv5915503631"><div>It’s a good and important letter - and quite necessary, given the propaganda wash on Vietnam for the anniversaries (e.g., “Writer’s Almanac" last week ran a shocking exculpation in a matter-of-fact tone).<div class="yiv5915503631"><br class="yiv5915503631" clear="none"></div><div class="yiv5915503631">“...not just impractical, but immoral” is mordantly succinct, but I don’t understand “the majority of those reading this."<div class="yiv5915503631"><br class="yiv5915503631" clear="none"></div><div class="yiv5915503631">And it’s probably not enough to say, "However one judges the practice of 'fragging’…” Better to stress the suppressed fact that the draft army revolted?</div><div class="yiv5915503631"><br class="yiv5915503631" clear="none"></div><div class="yiv5915503631"><br class="yiv5915503631" clear="none"></div><div class="yiv5915503631yqt1670204267" id="yiv5915503631yqt04667"><div class="yiv5915503631"><br class="yiv5915503631" clear="none"><div><blockquote class="yiv5915503631" type="cite"><div class="yiv5915503631">On Apr 19, 2015, at 6:01 PM, David Green via Peace-discuss <<a class="yiv5915503631" href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a>> wrote:</div><br class="yiv5915503631Apple-interchange-newline" clear="none"><div class="yiv5915503631">
</div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div><div class="yiv5915503631yqt1670204267" id="yiv5915503631yqt44647"><div><div class="yiv5915503631"><div class="yiv5915503631" style='font-family: garamond, "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'><div class="yiv5915503631" id="yiv5915503631yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2301" dir="ltr"> I sent a revised letter because I think that fragging is obviously a difficult issue, and I felt the previous version was not clear about that:</div><div class="yiv5915503631" id="yiv5915503631yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2300" dir="ltr"><br class="yiv5915503631" clear="none"></div><div class="yiv5915503631" id="yiv5915503631yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2305" dir="ltr"><font class="yiv5915503631" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="yiv5915503631" id="yiv5915503631yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2299" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;"><span class="yiv5915503631" id="yiv5915503631yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2298" style="font-size: 12pt;"><font class="yiv5915503631" id="yiv5915503631yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2297" face="Calibri">As we observe 50-year anniversaries pertaining to the Vietnam War,
it’s important that an accurate account of that era be differentiated from
patriotic sentimentality regarding veterans. This effort towards truth and
perhaps reconciliation should apply to any war in our history, but especially
to those since World War II, all of which relate to efforts to obtain global
hegemony for a class of individuals now referred to as the “one percent.”
Victims of these wars can be counted in millions, a very small percentage of
them Americans.</font></span></div><div class="yiv5915503631" dir="ltr"><font class="yiv5915503631" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="yiv5915503631" id="yiv5915503631yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2296" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;"><span class="yiv5915503631" id="yiv5915503631yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2295" style="font-size: 12pt;"><font class="yiv5915503631" id="yiv5915503631yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2294" face="Calibri">The Vietnam War was illegal, immoral, genocidal, and based on lies
from the start. By 1968, a majority of Americans viewed it as not just
impractical, but immoral. A majority of the generation of young men of that
era, including me as well as the majority reading this, rightly refused to
fight. They (we) expressed that refusal by avoiding the draft, avoiding combat,
refusing orders to engage in combat, and even killing their commanding
officers. </font></span></div><div class="yiv5915503631" dir="ltr"><font class="yiv5915503631" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="yiv5915503631" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;"><span class="yiv5915503631" style="font-size: 12pt;"><font class="yiv5915503631" face="Calibri">Wikipedia reports that 230 American officers were killed by their
own troops, and 1,400 deaths of officers could not be explained. However one
judges the practice of “fragging,” its frequency was symptomatic of soldiers’
response to an unjust and senseless war.</font></span></div><div class="yiv5915503631" dir="ltr"><font class="yiv5915503631" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="yiv5915503631" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;"><span class="yiv5915503631" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"><font class="yiv5915503631" face="Calibri">Criminal political leaders were responsible
for this war, and by 1968 the American people were trying to stop them.
Unfortunately, this pattern has been repeated in the last 15 years, but with
less success by resistors. To invoke the famous words of Pete Seeger: “When
will we ever learn?”</font></span></div><div class="yiv5915503631" dir="ltr"><font class="yiv5915503631" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br class="yiv5915503631" clear="none">Peace-discuss mailing list<br class="yiv5915503631" clear="none"><a class="yiv5915503631" href="mailto:Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a><br class="yiv5915503631" clear="none">https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss<br class="yiv5915503631" clear="none"><br class="yiv5915503631" clear="none"></div></div></div><br><br></div> </blockquote> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>