| By Todd Beeton, Courage Campaign - Nov 13th, 2007 at 12:52 am PST |
This is outrageous.
Anti-war vets have been banned from marching in the 11th Veterans Day Parade in Long Beach.A participation application filed by Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace and Military Families Speak Out was turned down because organizers want Saturday's parade free from politics.
"They do not fit the spirit of the parade, the spirit being one of gratitude for what the veterans have done," said Martha Thuente, coordinator for the nonprofit Veterans Day Parade Committee.
"We do not want groups of a political nature, advocating the troops' withdrawal from Iraq," she added.
Banning veterans from a Veterans Day parade? Really? Yet pro-war veterans from VFW and the American Legion were allowed to march. Perhaps this should come as little surprise considering the ongoing effort to marginalize the voices of veterans or members of the military who want to end the war ("phony soldiers" anyone?) when those are the very voices we should be heeding. This sentiment was crystallized for me in an e-mail blast I received today from DFA:
Veterans Day is an important day to reflect on our veterans, and their sacrifices. I've done some reflecting myself.My name is Elliot Anderson, I'm a marine Afghanistan vet and I first started volunteering with Democracy for America when I attended the Nevada training in February of this year.
I think it's high time we stop making combat veterans and disabled veterans unnecessarily. In Iraq, it's high time to let the civil war we are mediating run its course, and get our troops out of the crossfire. Here at home it's high time to stop the drum beat of war with Iran. It isn't helping veterans to send them overseas into un-just wars.
The best way to pay tribute to our veterans is to make sure "we stop making combat veterans and disabled veterans unnecessarily." It's so simple. In addition, it's imperative that we honor their service by taking care of them upon their return. Those forces who think paying tribute to our veterans means cheerleading war have let down our veterans. Again, from Anderson.
For a lot of our homeless veterans they have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and are unemployable. In the meantime because of the neglect of the veterans administration there is a backlog for claims which can take up to 6 months to fix. So what is an unemployable veteran supposed to do for 6 months? The answer, of course, is end up on the streets.Let's resolve this Veterans Day to remember our veterans 365 days a year and unlike the right wing, continue to put our money where our mouth is. Everyday you can make a difference in a veteran's life. May I suggest a fantastic organization which gets vets off the streets and rehabilitates them?
You can help today at:
I hope today and over the weekend you were able to pay tribute to those who are serving and who have served. Anderson offers us a reminder of the importance of listening to our veterans and paying tribute to them not just one day a year, but every day.
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Watched a short news flash earlier today, and just pulled up to read later from Alternet an article on the increasing suicides of Vets after returning home, 120 a week....I bet that is an understatement/under-counting, the tip of the iceberg.
We had the Nuremberg Trials for War Criminals, in the 20th Century, can't we have them again for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, Rice, Rove, and on, and on down line line of the "traitors" who are running our democracy and its citizens into the ground, as well as millions throughout the Middle East.