The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon Letters in the Editor's Mailbag By Michael Rooke-Ley For The Register-Guard Published: Sunday, January 21, 2007 Four years ago today I returned from Baghdad, where I had been invited to meet with Iraq's foreign minister and other Baath Party officials and to offer any 11th-hour suggestions for peaceful alternatives to the impending American invasion - believing, with embarrassing naivete, that our nation's attack (just weeks later) could be avoided. Since then, we've learned .... that the invasion had been planned all along by the Bush administration as part of a messianic mission to establish permanent bases throughout Iraq and then control and transform the entire Middle East. We've learned that our nation maintains secret prisons throughout the world and that Guantanamo alone holds without charge men from at least a dozen nations. Torture, "extraordinary rendition" and warrantless domestic eavesdropping have become front-page news. We - and, more importantly, our kids - are witnessing the cultural ostracism of Muslims and other people of color, portrayed as our enemies on popular TV shows and video games ... I remembered climbing the Washington Monument for the first time as a 10-year-old. Growing up in the 1950s, we knew that the United States was the greatest nation on Earth. Land of liberty, home of the brave, beacon of freedom, the best, the brightest, the wealthiest - all of this we seemed to grasp intuitively, never giving it a second thought. (The 1954 addition of "under God" to our Pledge of Allegiance merely confirmed what we already knew.) Our assumptions gave us the security, confidence and sense of entitlement that only come with privilege. But now, 50 years later, with school-age children of my own, I find my confidence in America shaken, my assumptions in doubt, my national pride slipping away. What have we become? Or did I simply never know? How could this have happened? Is Rome burning? How do I explain to my kids that America is better than this? ... Published: Monday, February 4, 2007 Traitors prolonging Iraq war Iraq War Another crock from Michael Rooke-Ley (Commentary, Jan. 21). His essay literally made me sick. He admits he was a Vietnam protester. Was he one of those who spit on our troops? He seems proud to have been a part of the effort to ensure our defeat. I wonder if the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese who were slaughtered by the communists after our disgraceful withdrawal would thank him. Their blood is on his hands. Now he wants another Vietnam. His pathological hatred for President Bush is so great he's willing to sacrifice his own country to bring him down. I'd guess he's a card-carrying member card-carrying member n → miembro con carnet card-carrying member n → membre actif card-carrying member n → of the American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. . We should all know who and what they are. They, along with the editors of The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times and their sycophants at The Register-Guard, have invested heavily in the effort to destroy this president. Check out the history of the ACLU ACLU: see American Civil Liberties Union. and its founder. It wants no borders, no religion, no judgment and to bring about a totalitarian state Noun 1. totalitarian state - a government that subordinates the individual to the state and strictly controls all aspects of life by coercive measures totalitation regime . History tells us if this happens, ACLU members will be the first to be executed. In my opinion, Rooke-Ley, like many of the letter writers and columnists appearing in this newspaper, is an abject coward. They will retreat in order to avoid conflict until their backs are against the very wall that awaits their execution. I won't shed a tear. This war would be over by now if it wasn't for their traitorous actions. The blood of our soldiers is on their hands. TOM PREUSS Creswell Published: Monday, February 16, 2007 No one spat on Vietnam vets Tom Preuss, in his Feb. 4 screed to the editor, adds yet another of several recent references claiming that Vietnam vets were spat upon by protesters upon their return to the United States. It begins to appear that a "talking point" has been distributed by some Swift Boating group or talk radio host to discredit those who would question the war in Iraq by reminding us of supposed "unpatriotic" behavior from the past. In fact, it appears the "spitting on the veterans" story is completely false. Unless Preuss can provide references to proven instances of such behavior, I will be steadfast in my understanding that exhaustive research on that very topic has shown no examples of such behavior, period. Perhaps at the same time he can similarly disprove converse reports that war protesters were actually the recipients of spitting and other hostile acts coming from conservative, pro-war supporters such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars. In fact, in his book, "The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam," Jerry Lembke, himself a Vietnam vet, concludes that there was not a single media report to support such claims of hostility toward the returned veterans. In 1995, a study by Thomas Beamisn and others analyzed some 495 media stories and found no reports of spitting or even negative taunting. In the future, I suggest Preuss and his ilk do a Google search on "spitting on veterans" or other myths before writing in public. BOB THOMPSON Eugene Published: Monday, February 25, 2007 Spitting incidents did occur I am writing regarding Bob Thompson's rant saying that no one spat on Vietnam veterans (letters, Feb. 16). He doesn't know what he's talking about. As an Army private flying on Delta Air lines to visit my family while on leave, I was spat upon. If I flew in uniform, I would only have to pay the taxes and a small amount to Delta to fly standby. After the second time I was spat upon, I paid full fare and flew in civilian clothes to keep it from happening again. Thompson doesn't need to Google anything, for I am here to tell him that it happened and not once, but twice. One more thing - all you had to do was look at my haircut at the time and I didn't have to be in uniform to be recognized as a soldier. I am surprised The Register-Guard would print such trash. THOMAS W. POSTELLE Veneta Published: Monday, February 25, 2007 Vietnam vets verbally abused 2 of 3 2/26/07 2:06 PM The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/02/25/ed.letters.0225.p1.php I take issue with Bob Thompson's comments (letters, Feb. 16). He claims that veterans returning from Vietnam were not spat upon when returning to the United States because it is not in media articles, he could not find it on Google and he read a book about spitting. When I got off the plane in San Francisco, I experienced being spat at and was the subject of verbal abuse. I don't think the spit hit my boots, but it was very close. Some military personnel would change their clothes before leaving the airplane so they would not have to endure the abuse. If the spit did hit me, there would have been a confrontation. Thompson needs to get facts from actual people who were there and not rely on the media so much for information. San Francisco was probably the most prolific place for protesters at the time. The media would have only printed something about the protest had there been an actual confrontation. I don't believe that it happened throughout the country and most vets did not have to go through this abuse, but it did happen to a few. It's not an issue about patriotism, but what is right and wrong. Thompson doesn't know what he is talking about. RODNEY GORDON Published: Monday, February 25, 2007 Veterans greeted with hostility When I returned from Vietnam in January 1967, we were told at Oakland Army Terminal that it would be better to travel in civilian clothes and not in our uniforms. According to Bob Thompson (letters, Feb. 16), none of the following ever happened: I was called a "baby killer" to my face more than once; I was told "I'd like to buy you a beer if you will take that stinking uniform off" (that statement resulted in somewhat of a violent encounter); and yes, I was spat on just outside the San Francisco airport while waiting for my flight home. Those of us who came back home through California experienced a lot of hostility in varying degrees. I wonder why I was never asked about my experiences. In fact, I don't even know anyone who was. I spent 20 years in the Army and I am damned proud of the military and the veterans. I would like to invite Thompson to follow his own advice: In the future, I suggest Thompson and his ilk talk to veterans of that war about our experiences before taking some junk off the Internet as the absolute truth and writing about it in public. We were harassed back then, and now Thompson wants to keep the flame alive. What a country. HERMAN ISAACS Springfield Published: Monday, February 26, 2007 Vietnam vet data incomplete In regard to Bob Thompson's Feb. 16 letter on whether U.S. soldiers were ever spat upon and his criticism of Tom Preuss's Feb. 4 letter, I suggest that Thompson, and others interested in the subject, go to Jim Lindgren's blog at volokh.com/posts/1170928927.shtml, which investigates the claim and provides for a more thorough review of the subject. Apparently the book Thompson cited, Jerry Lembke's "The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam," was fatally flawed in relying on electronic searches, not realizing - or caring - that most digitization of newspaper articles did not truly get under way until the 1980s, well after the events in question took place. While the entire blog cannot be reprinted here, I would like to include one paragraph as supporting the claim: "Among the journalists who gave firsthand accounts of spitting on soldiers was James Reston, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Spitting was one of the actions tame enough for Reston to describe in his New York Times front page story covering the Oct. 21-22, 1967, Washington anti-war demonstrations: `It is difficult to report publicly the ugly and vulgar provocation of many of the militants. They spat on some of the soldiers in the front line at the Pentagon and goaded them with the most vicious personal slander. Many of the signs carried by a small number of militants ... are too obscene to print.' " Perhaps Thompson should give up totally relying on Google and keep his day job. H. HILLIARD GASTFRIEND Eugene Returning from Vietnam easy I believe I must agree with Bob Thompson (letters, Feb. 16). My experience was that returning as a Vietnam veteran was a simple event. Nor has any Vietnam vet ever related to me an incident about being spat upon. The protesters, whom I met weeks later, simply asked that I join in the protesting, never once being disrespectful. The problems began when I attempted to enter polite society. I went to Vietnam with a professional degree from the University of Oregon plus a year's engineering intensive from the U.S. Army and served as an officer with the Corps of Engineers. During my tour I was responsible for designing and building about $10 million worth of construction. On re-entering society and applying for an entry-level position, I was slandered, degraded, cursed, trivialized and shown the door whenever I mentioned being a veteran. Most firms told me they weren't hiring with the subtext of "don't ever come back, we don't hire your kind." I resorted to cutting a three-year hole in my résumé and pretending to not have any experience. It was a "don't ask, don't tell" situation, often working only briefly, for as soon as an employer found out who I really was, I would be let go: "Last hired, first fired." One employer told me to always come in the back door and don't cause any trouble. Just another draftee doing his civic duty. But nobody ever spat on me. ROBERT L. SHAW Eugene