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Our View
The warriors
The 30th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam
War passed virtually unnoticed last January,
and aside from an observance at the Vietnam Memorial, not much else was done.
From the beginning, this controversial war divided the homefront into “hawks” and “doves,” and as America moves to wage war on Iraq, those of us who lived through those days are witnessing again the discord, accusations of ulterior motives, and protests at home that marked the Vietnam War.
The greatest failure of the Johnson administration was its failure to ever articulate the national goals in Vietnam. Hopefully, the Bush administration has done a better job than that on Iraq, although many are still unconvinced.
The situation at home has not gone unnoticed by the U.S. troops staging outside of Iraq. Some have asked if they will be spat on when they return home. This cannot happen, regardless of the politics, or the outcome of the war.
As Mary Stout, a former Army nurse who served in Vietnam in 1966-67 wrote,
“Our nation made a tragic mistake by tying its feelings about the Vietnam War to our treatment of the men and women who served in that war. Now, years later, people have come to realize that you can support the warrior even while disagreeing about the war. America’s debt to our warriors should be based solely on the issues of one’s service to one’s country.”
It is true that there are many differences between the war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq, but one constant remains: the Americans who are or will be fighting in Iraq don’t believe that their country would ask them to do something that is not right. And they don’t owe anyone at home an explanation — or apology — for being there.
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