<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">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=""><br class=""></div><div class="">“...not just impractical, but immoral” is mordantly succinct, but I don’t understand “the majority of those reading this."<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Apr 19, 2015, at 6:01 PM, David Green via Peace-discuss <<a href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net" class="">peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class="">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class="">
<div class=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: garamond, 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px;" class=""><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2301" dir="ltr" class=""> 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 id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2300" dir="ltr" class=""><br class=""></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2305" dir="ltr" class=""><font face="Times New Roman" class="">
</font></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2299" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;" class=""><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2298" style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2297" face="Calibri" class="">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" class=""><font face="Times New Roman" class="">
</font></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2296" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;" class=""><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2295" style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429484371640_2294" face="Calibri" class="">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 dir="ltr" class=""><font face="Times New Roman" class="">
</font></div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><font face="Calibri" class="">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 dir="ltr" class=""><font face="Times New Roman" class="">
</font></div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: normal;" class=""><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><font face="Calibri" class="">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" class=""><font face="Times New Roman" class="">
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