These are some thoughts, after being at the hearings for the last three days, about the event, those that criticize it and our responsibility as progressives. The men and women who are here, testifying about what they are doing are quite remarkable. Most of them are younger than our children and they have seen and done more in their brief lives than any of us will or want to do. Up until today, I was largely inured to the emotional consequences of what they have discussed because I have been working on a computer the whole time I have ben here. Today, I watched them muster for a group photograph and I could not watch, instead I found myself crying and decided I had to write something about the event. I hope this diary is not too preachy, but it must be said this event should not have had to take place and it is up to us t make sure that it never happens again.
Yesterday I saw a lady asking one of the security guards why the event was called Winter Soldier. He patiently explained that the name was taken from Thomas Paine's "Crisis Paper", she listened patiently, thought about what she had been told and replied "that is fair." I am not sure if she went away impressed, or convinced, but she seemed to be coming here to support the GIs, so I think she may have been predisposed to support the event.
Unfortunately few of the events critics are willing to give an inch. They have attempted to force the organization to conform to their most biased and hellish visions of a future past. This seems to have three basic components. First, by claiming the organization is subset of VVAW, they avoid having to deal with he fact there is a war going on. That real people, not cartoon characters, extras from a war movie or stereotypes from our deepest fears, are being maimed, killed and shattered. It is much easier to pretend that this is Vietnam volume two than a war in Iraq. While there are VVAW here, providing security, advice, guidance and shoulders to cry on, but this has been organized by and reflects the experience of IVAW members.
Second, that this movement i somehow controlled and guided by John Kerry and Jane Fonda. This is patently absurd and once again avoids the issue of having to address the issue of Iraq. In fact, a reporter claiming to be from what is now been called the Young America's Foundation, but is Young American's for Freedom with a new label cornered John Kerry and tried to get him to say something about the Winter Soldier II. I am not privy to the mind of john Kerry, and I am sure that he is not unaware of this little gathering, but as far as I can tell he has made no attempt to either contact or take credit for what is going on down here.
Third, and connected to the second accusation, is the claim the IVAW are communists. I have been here for three days, and I did not know there were so many communists left in the world. Why IVAW's critics constantly run out this tired old stereotype, in an effort to discredit them is a little bizarre at best and absurd at worst. While I have not gone round and polled the members of IVAW who are here as to who is, or is not a communist, but if I were to do so most would look at me blankly and wonder what the hell I am talking about. Even more than is the case with John Kerry and Jane Fonda, there is no connection between the IVAW and the Communist Party. While some members may have sentiments that mirror what Richard Neville once called the ideological/alphabet soup of the new left and Just because the Workers World endorses the goals of IVAW, this does not mean the members are communist or even have anything close to a coherent ideological critique.
Unfortunately, and a fact which illustrates how little the movement's critics are willing to address these veteran on their own terms, as Veterans of a war which should never have been fought and as members of an organization that should have had to be formed, when the IVAW's critics accuse them of being communists they are using the term in the same it was used by J. Edgar Hoover in Masters of Deceit and the John Birch Society. The communist party envisioned by both had ceased to exist with the death of Stalin and the execution of Beria.
There is only one truth to be gained from the experience of being here, and it hits everyone at different times or stays as a constant, sometimes quietly throbbing at the base of your spine and gnawing at your soul and sometimes pouring out of you like a scream of vomit, THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO TAKE PLACE. These are young Americans who are not the wiling lackeys of any organization, who should be living their lives in the full knowledge that tomorrow is an adventure, filled with a myriad of experiences to come. Drunken nights of sex and hedonism unseen and unknown. They should be able to go home at night, when knackered, and be able to relax, drink a beer, smoke a joint or meditate over a steaming cup of tea and pray to whatever god they choose to believe in. They should not have to live the rest of their lives torn up and afraid, because WE DID NOT CARE ENOUGH TO STOP THIS DAMNED WAR.
It is not enough for us to say we are outraged, when doing so costs us nothing. It s not enough to believe that our principled stands offer any kind of resolution or absolution. These are our children, and they have been sent, with our consent/or dissent to half way round the world to wreak havoc in places we may have read about in a history book or seen on a map Our outrage has to mean something more than merely criticizing the architects, planners and lay preachers of this war.
If we do not make them do more than simply apologize for acquiescing, then we will be back here again in 30 years and have to listen to a new generation of American boys and girls searching for the right words to express their shame, anger and horror. I for one, never want to stand under hot summer sun again and watch as a group of young American's gather to have heir photograph taken and realize that every one of them are veterans of a war and most are the same age or younger than my son.
Up to this afternoon, I have mainly been working on a computer and I have not had to think too much about the fact these are young men and women are our children. Then the gathered for their photograph and I could not watch. I broke don in tears. I also just tried to listen to a young man describe what he did at Guantanamo, and I cried again. These are our children and we have allowed them to be sent to war. We have stood idly by while they have been accused of being communists and protestors of a war long gone. We have allowed the men ho have made their money accuse them of being tools and lackeys of Jane Fonda, John Kerry and the now defunct communist party. And we have said nothing and for that we are to blame. If we do not say you are liars and do not deserve to speak again in public without ridicule and denunciation, we will be back here again in 30 years and I for one do not want to have to come.
james.