Give vets their park: They have the plan, but the city won't give them the time of day

[unhappycamper]

Give vets their park: They have the plan, but the city won't give them the time of day
by Jack Lessenberry | July 14, 2010 - 8:57am

You can, and should, hate war with a passion. The Vietnam War, in my opinion, did more to ruin this nation than any single event in history.

The war in Iraq, which we were lied into, not ready for, and then badly botched, is now widely acknowledged to have been a criminal mess from start to a finish that is still nowhere in sight. Nor do I have any confidence that we are accomplishing anything at all in Afghanistan, except more death.

Other wars were different; it is hard to argue that Nazi Germany, say, didn't have to be destroyed by any means necessary.

But whether you agree with my analysis or not — veterans of all our wars deserve to be respected and honored. They didn't make the policies that started the wars, no matter how stupid those policies were or are.

They joined the military because they were drafted or couldn't find a job or actually wanted to make a difference and make the world a better place. Many veterans really did want to protect their country from harm. They followed orders they had no choice but to obey, while others were lucky enough to study or party or just hang out instead.

[Kali]

1. a small irrelevant comment

the little town I shop in gave a small park to the vets and they promplty chopped down this HUGE, wonderful tree to put up a steel fenced enclosure around a big "gravestone" looking monument with a plaque on it. In my opionion they ruined a nice shady public space that lots of people enjoyed to honor these guys and now nobody even goes near the area. Whatever.