You Have the Right to Shut Up and Sit Down
Aug 24th, 2005 at 5:40 pm by Susie
Apparently some of us have fewer constitutional rights than others:
NEW YORK The American Legion, which has 2.7 million members, has declared war on antiwar protestors, and the media could be next. Speaking at its national convention in Honolulu, the group’s national commander called for an end to all “public protestsâ€? and “media eventsâ€? against the war, constitutional protections be damned.
“The American Legion will stand against anyone and any group that would demoralize our troops, or worse, endanger their lives by encouraging terrorists to continue their cowardly attacks against freedom-loving peoples,” Thomas Cadmus, national commander, told delegates at the group’s national convention in Honolulu.
The delegates voted to use whatever means necessary to “ensure the united backing of the American people to support our troops and the global war on terrorism.”
Cadmus added: “It would be tragic if the freedoms our veterans fought so valiantly to protect would be used against their successors today as they battle terrorists bent on our destruction.â€?
Without mentioning any current protestor, such as Cindy Sheehan, by name, Cadmus recalled: “For many of us, the visions of Jane Fonda glibly spouting anti-American messages with the North Vietnamese and protestors denouncing our own forces four decades ago is forever etched in our memories. We must never let that happen again….
“We had hoped that the lessons learned from the Vietnam War would be clear to our fellow citizens. Public protests against the war here at home while our young men and women are in harm’s way on the other side of the globe only provide aid and comfort to our enemies. ”
Resolution 3, which was passed unanimously by 4,000 delegates to the annual event, states: “The American Legion fully supports the president of the United States, the United States Congress and the men, women and leadership of our armed forces as they are engaged in the global war on terrorism and the troops who are engaged in protecting our values and way of life.”
Cadmus explained, “No one respects the right to protest more than one who has fought for it, but we hope that Americans will present their views in correspondence to their elected officials rather than by public media events guaranteed to be picked up and used as tools of encouragement by our enemies.” This might suggest to some, however, that American freedoms are worth dying for, but not exercising.
“Let’s not repeat the mistakes of our past,” Cadmus advised. “I urge all Americans to rally around our armed forces and remember our fellow Americans who were viciously murdered on Sept. 11, 2001.
It would be way too much to ask that the Legion hold his chimpiness responsible for the morale of the troops. He has offered them no real mission to accomplish unless it’s to serve as human targets. He has held National Guard troops hostage in jobs they were ill prepared for. He refuses to furnish enough troops for his war of choice. Tell me that doesn’t affect morale more adversely than the troops knowing their loved ones want them home.
Chew on that, you who would try to stifle our Constitutional right of free speech or choke on the vomit you spew.
Go read Billmon on this
I just emailed this to my Repub boss explaining that while I don’t like criticizing any Veterans group, I found this offensive. Here they fought for my rights but are willing to curtail them when it’s a Repub that has no exit strategy for the quagmire that is Iraq. Especially since Shrub, while he was Govenor of Texass, critisized Clinton for having no exit strategy for Yougoslavia. I hope my boss and I don’t have another screaming match over this tomorrow. Not that he’s a fan of Shrub or what he’s doing to our military. But sometimes he defends the dumbest things.
My guess is that (a) back in the day, when left to his own devices, Cadmus treated the Vietnamese like Charles Graner treated Iraqis and (b) if Graner hadn’t been caught, a few decades from now, he’d be whining about how the anti-war side lost this war. (Hell, still might.)
One thing I love about vets–the military experience usually fulfills for life any need they may have had to prove what hard-asses they are. Cadmus is clearly an exception. But if he got the sort of media shitstorm that Pat Robertson earned the other day–especially if it came from other vets–would you be terribly surprised?
Back before these old duffers got too stout to move off their barstools, in the days just after WWI the Legion had made a name for itself as a group of thug strikebreakers and defenders of the American Way. There’s no surprise here.
from http://www.historylink.org
“On November 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the Armistice that ended the War to End All War, members of the local American Legion, including young war veterans, marched up Centralia’s Tower Avenue. Near the intersection of Second Street and Tower Avenue, the American Legion contingent stopped in front of the Roderick Hotel, which served as a local union hall for the IWW.
The union had been warned that the Legionnaires would attack their hall. It had happened before, the previous year. Its local lawyer, Elmer Smith, advised that they were entitled to defend their property. So they were armed.
As in Everett, no one knows who fired the first shot, but within minutes, four young Legionnaires lay dead or dying on the street. The town went crazy. Citizens become vigilantes and descended on Wobblies and other union members, arresting them in their halls or homes and throwing them in jail.”
My guess is that (a) back in the day, when left to his own devices, Cadmus treated the Vietnamese like Charles Graner treated Iraqis
Not quite, Molly. Life is funnier than that. http://tbogg.blogspot.com/2005/08/yeah.html
Statements like this, demanding unquestioning loyalty to the present officially sanctioned and beatified madness , remind me once again why I have always demurred when offered the chance as a Vietnam veteran to take my place in this august organization.
Jim
Ruddy Gore–Really? Well. Kinda explains why he thinks he’s starring in Fight Club: The Reality Series.