News & Commentary from Veteran Writers/Activists
My local newspaper recently printed a trio of articles about fallen heroes. One was the story of a young Marine who died in a training exercise, months short of discharge. His body was welcomed home with 2200 American flags. Another was a comment by a columnist questioning the economics of providing military honors to people who died in circumstances other than combat. Still another opined that lots of people are heroes … [Read more...]
"...the most unjust war ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation.” Ulysses S. Grant (speaking of the Mexican War) Comes now Nick Turse, forty years after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, with Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam, a compendious retelling of the horrors once inflicted by the United States of America against a tiny South East Asian adversary and its entire … [Read more...]
I have listed below more than ninety articles dating from the revelation of the My Lai massacre in late1969 until the fall of 1971 in which American war veterans presented compelling, eyewitness testimony on the “true nature of the Vietnam War.” Over and over in these accounts the veterans charged that Vietnamese civilians were routinely subjected to atrocities that resulted from policies … [Read more...]
"The experience we have of our lives from within, the story we tell ourselves about ourselves in order to account for what we are doing, is thus a lie -- the truth lies rather outside, in what we do." Slavoj Zizek Soldiers and veterans from Iraq, Afghanistan and other wars are killing themselves, according to Sixty Minutes, at a rate of 22-a-day. For any fair-minded person whose mind is not locked into a dehumanized … [Read more...]
By JOEY KING “I have decided to henceforth say nothing that is not true,” said the student. “I’ll miss your voice,” replied the Zen master. I discovered the writings of Jeff Knaebel a few years ago. He was a US citizen who left the country of his birth in the mid-1990s for a life of voluntary self-exile in India. His writings were online articles that … [Read more...]
By Billy Kelly I am probably the only American alive who knows this hamlet's name. On March 15, 1969, I was involved in an all-day battle in this very area—mercifully, the only one of my brief military career. The combat took place within a two-kilometer by four-kilometer area. I remember the name because I received a few citations with this hamlet's name printed on them, and the date of the action was noted. I was … [Read more...]
"...the most unjust war ever waged by a stronger … [Read More...]
I have listed below more … [Read More...]
"The experience we have of our lives from within, … [Read More...]
Backyard Productions presents COMMEMORATE … [Read More...]
