Hit Piece

Below is an editorial from the L.A. Times, along with a response from a Vietnam Vet.

MODEST PROPOSAL

Apocalypse again -- call up the Vietnam vets

Where else can Bush get 21,500 trained soldiers for his 'surge'?

By Paul Whitefield

PAUL WHITEFIELD supervises the editorial pages' copy desk.

January 21, 2007

LISTENING TO President Bush's speech on Iraq earlier this
month, my first thought was: "Where the heck are we going to
get 21,500 more soldiers to send to Iraq?" Our Reserves are
depleted, our National Guard is worn out, our Army and Marine
Corps are stretched to the limit.

Then it hit me: Re-up our Vietnam War veterans and send them.

They're trained. They're battle-hardened. Many already have
post-traumatic stress disorder. Also, some have their own
vehicles, Harleys mostly, which are cheap to run, make
small targets and are highly mobile. I'll even bet that lots
of these guys still have guns (you know, just in case).

OK, some vets are a bit long in the tooth (or don't have
teeth, because of Agent Orange?). Or their eyesight
isn't what it was. Or their reflexes have slowed. But with
today's modern weaponry, how well do you have to see?

Too out of shape, you say? Listen, if Rocky Balboa can step
back into the ring at age 60, all these Vietnam War vets need
is a little boot-camp magic and they'll be good to go. I
mean, who doesn't want to drop a few pounds?

Don't want geezers fighting for us? Well, let's face it, our
young people have greater value right here. Most of us want
to retire and collect our hard-earned Social Security, and we
need those youngsters here, working and paying taxes,
lots of taxes.

Finally, these Vietnam War guys are hungry for revenge. After
all, they fought in the only war the U.S. ever lost. And they
didn't even get a parade. So this is their chance. We can
throw them that big parade when they come marching home.

Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times


The Response

Dear Mr. Whitefield;

Congratulations. You have taken left wing journalism, even
left coast journalism, to a new low with your tasteless,
low-class article filled with Hollywood and Media-borne
stereotypes of Vietnam veterans. My son who just served as a
Green Beret weapons sergeant in Iraq does indeed have a
Harley, a fancy chopper no less. Although I served as a Green
Beret in Vietnam in 1968-1969, I hate motorcycles and would
never own one. Another son earning his Green Beret at Fort
Bragg will be going to Iraq this year, and has no intention
of owning a bike, either. Gee, I guess that makes us all
veterans and Americans who simply have a right to own
motorcycles, doesn't it. Your pony-tail, camouflage-fatigue
wearing, bearded, drug-influenced, beer swilling, Easy
Rider-looking image of Vietnam veterans is simply that, a
Hollywood image. In fact, 8 out of 9 of those so-called
Vietnam veterans you run into never even served in the military.

In regards to your remark that we are all angry because we
lost that war. I don't see Vietnam having to build a wall
along their border to keep people from flooding into their
country. Some countries like Vietnam have secret police and
border patrols to keep their oppressed citizenry within their
borders. We are in a quandary about how to keep people out
because we have so much to offer. I don't know if you have
noticed but Hanoi would give every US statesmen a hooker and
a case of whiskey if they thought it would further their goal
of just getting some more free trade with us.

The American military won every major battle we fought in the
Vietnam War, especially the 1968 Tet Offensive, but
bass-voiced, pipe-smoking, grandfatherly Walter Cronkite
declared the Tet Offensive a North Vietnamese victory and
like the mindless, follow-the-leader wannabe journalists that
most of the media elitists like you are, you all picked up on
that and played the story to the hilt. In fact, leader of all
North Vietnamese forces and outstanding military strategist
General Vo Nguyen Giap wrote in his memoirs that the 1968 Tet
Offensive broke the back of the NVA (North Vietnamese Army),
and they suffered staggering losses and were ready to
surrender to the US, however the US anti-war machine, with
the US media greasing the gears was in full operations, and
gave them hope, so he said in his own words they decided to
hang on with bloody fingertips and hope the anti-war
demonstrations would help them stay until eventual victory.

Sure we were never celebrated like other American war
veterans, but we do not need short-sighted idiots like you to
make us feel validated. I was there to serve God, my country,
and an ideal, an American ideal that has much greater import
than your misinformed opinion. Wasn't it amazing how all
those countries ravaged by the tidal waves a few years ago,
those African nations dealing with an AID crisis, and the
truly oppressed all over the world always turn to the country
of Vietnam to bring in the Red Cross, volunteers, money, and
assistance? I mean after all, they kicked our butts didn't
they? To the victors go the spoils and that shining spot of
human freedom and personal dignity, the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam is what all countries want to be just like, according
to your thinking.

We Vietnam veterans, the real ones, who have a higher per
capita income level, education level, and lower arrest rates
than any other large group of Americans of the same age, did
not lose the Vietnam War, Mr. Whitefield. We won! We kicked
the enemy's ass to the bamboo-constructed curb, just like our
children and grandchildren are doing now in the Global War on
Terrorism, but there is one big difference: The American kids
in harms way today need not worry, because Vietnam veterans
like me will not allow liberal media elitists like you do to
them what you all did to us back then. Sure, you will not
print my letter, as your rag has proven it cares not one whit
about balance, but this email will go all over the Internet,
all over the world, and people will applaud the fact that you
have been taken to the woodshed, which we will do every time
you try to disrespect our military. Some men in suits played
word games for political expedience in regards to the outcome
of the Vietnam War, but make no mistake, we won, and I am
very proud to be a Vietnam veteran, and if you can shut me
up, there are 10 more Vietnam vets who will stand in my
place. Guys like you try to make the anti-war machine build
up steam, but each time you do, we will poke holes in the
boiler. I put my life on the line for what I believed in:
What about you?

- A Nam Vet