Posted on 07/09/2004 3:24:18 AM PDT by johnny7
Think about the Seattle area -- Bainbridge Island to be exact -- and you think scenic views and liberal-minded tolerance. At least the killer views are still there.
The bucolic island's deep reputation for civility got a gut check this week during the annual Grand Old Fourth of July celebration. That's when Jason Gilson, a 23-year-old military veteran who served in Iraq, marched in the local event. He wore his medals with pride and carried a sign that said "Veterans for Bush." Walking the parade route with his mom, younger siblings and politically conservative friends, Jason heard words from the crowd that felt like a thousand daggers to the heart. "Baby killer!" "Murderer!" "Boooo!"
To understand why the reaction of strangers hurt so much, you must read what the young man had written in a letter from Iraq before he was disabled in an ambush: "I really miss being in the states. Some of the American public have no idea how much freedom costs and who the people are that pay that awful price. I think sometimes people just see us as nameless and faceless and not really as humans. ... A good portion of us are actually scared that when we come home, for those of us who make it back, that there will be protesters waiting for us and that is scary." On the Fourth, Jason faced his worst fear.
It was such a public humiliation -- home front insult after battlefield injury. It really shouldn't have happened for two principal reasons. Reason No. 1? History. The past informs us that the men and women who fight our wars are not just following orders. They are risking life and limb. When they return from the battlefield they should be embraced regardless of the public popularity about the conflict, regardless of the politics. Have we so quickly forgotten the painful lessons of Vietnam? Frederick Scheffler, whose daughter and son-in-law marched with Jason on Sunday, hasn't. Scheffler -- an Army veteran of two tours in Southeast Asia -- was shot in the leg during that long-ago conflict. He came home with a cane, only to discover the American public was either indifferent to his sacrifice or downright hostile. "I didn't think in this day and age combat veterans would be treated in this manner," Scheffler, 60, tells me, reflecting on Jason. "I saw it happen to veterans in Vietnam. I'm not going to let it happen today, not to these kids."
Reason No. 2? The rules. The Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce, which put on the community celebration, permits freedom of expression at the event but asks that parade announcers not act in a manner that is partisan or prejudicial. Jason's mother, Tamar, says a female parade announcer locked eyes on her son who was walking behind a pro-Republican group called Women in Red, White and Blue. The group supports President Bush and the troops in the fight against terrorism. According to Tamar, the female announcer sarcastically asked Jason: "And what exactly are you a veteran of?" The perceived mocking, the mother adds, set off some people in the crowd, loosing a flood of negative comments, "like a wave... a mob-style degrading." Kevin Dwyer, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, spoke with the announcer after the allegations reached him this week. He says the woman denies using sarcasm; she just wanted to know which war Jason was a veteran of so that she could "honor him" in public. "It wasn't her intention to incite anything -- that's what she told me," Dwyer said. "But if she acted out of school, that's not what we're about." Dwyer added: "I believe (Jason's) mom when she said her son was called 'a murderer.' But I'm sure it wasn't so much directed at the kid as it was the president. A soldier with a sign represents that." The female announcer told Dwyer that some in the Bush-Cheney contingent in the parade seemed "militant."
And so, battle lines are drawn. From the outside looking in, the fuel for this conflict seems obvious. The left-leaning island hosted a group of people who support Bush's controversial war. (On the same parade route, people bearing pro-Kerry signs were cheered and applauded for, among other things, tooling around in an environmentally responsible car.) Against such a roiling backdrop, an unfortunate tone of voice or the wording on a sign can spark, well, something -- something unconscionable it appears.
But less obvious factors are undoubtedly at work here, too. The female announcer at the parade had a father who fought for America in a previous U.S. conflict. He never made it back home. Jason's mother -- unbeknownst to many observers along the parade route -- is a tireless activist behind the pro-troops movement in the Puget Sound region. Such a combo on a day of red, white and blue can only lead to fireworks -- snap, crackle and popping off during what locals call the "best small-town parade in America."
P-I columnist Robert L. Jamieson Jr. can be reached at 206-448-8125 or robertjamieson@seattlepi.com
The military would have come down on him with both feet. The last thing the military wants is pictures of a soldier beating up people for exercising their right of (idiotic) free speech.
Maybe all FReepers should switch to using "komunizm." It's got a really cool, old-school cold war look to it.
Im sorry for bad english.
"And so, battle lines are drawn...the fuel for this conflict seems obvious. The left-leaning island hosted a group of people who support Bush's controversial war. (and) Against such a roiling backdrop, an unfortunate tone of voice or the wording on a sign can spark, well, something..."
Gee, if only the 'controversial 4th of July paraders had respected their 'hosts' none of this would have taken place. (Nor would the parade have taken place.)
"The female announcer at the parade had a father who fought for America in a previous U.S. conflict. He never made it back home. Jason's mother -- unbeknownst to many observers along the parade route -- is a tireless activist behind the pro-troops movement...Such a combo on a day of red, white and blue can only lead to fireworks -- during what locals call the "best small-town parade in America."
Then I'd suggest that they find an announcer who does not have an agenda. Or, maybe next year they can have a 4th of July "diversity parade" and just leave the veterans out of it, that worked pretty well in '74.
PS: Most people who lose a loved one to a war wind up mad and the other side...I'll bet her daddy would be real proud.
This is utter B.S!
I hear ya, I hear ya.
It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth when subversives hide behind the 1st Amendment, when their ultimate goal is to destroy it.
>>Boffo! I'm glad someone else has said so! I believe shooting someone (even the enemy) in the back with a co cal. is murder. I don't know about the Geneva convention rules though.......<<
Your opinion of snipers must put them in Leavenworth.
Snipers are ok if they're targets are command and control officers and high ranked civilians. Kind of hard to justify their use for privates and other non-rated personell.....
I see you've never been in combat, by your words.
For those who've never been there, no explanation is possible....... For those who have, no explanation is needed..........
Your English is better than a lot of native-born Americans. Heck, you're making an effort to improve your English, which is more than can be said for a lot of Americans.
Let them talk. We'll talk back. Our ideas are better- that's why we're winning.
bump
True, enough, but there are and should be rules to govern such situations. If one is in immediate danger, then they are no longer snipers, but mortal combatants...
I want to speak and write like you :} I take lesson in English but is not same that is good. I learn from America people
I was dissed when i returned from Vietnam and did nothing at the time and I have regreted my in-action since.
All Veterans..sign up for support of President Bush....
approaching 5,000..verified signatures....go to:
www.vets4bush.com
Jake -WW2
I am so tired of this stuff already, and it will only get worse as the election draws near.
'Snipers are ok if they're targets are command and control officers and high ranked civilians. Kind of hard to justify their use for privates and other non-rated personell.....'
The idea is to kill the enemy or neutralize him through fear. Pvts are legit targets. Shooting the enemy in war is not murder. Have any religion?
If the enemy threat were a goat giving cover to an enemy combatant, the sniper would be fully justified (and expected) to first take out the goat, then the enemy combatant, then anything else that popped up offering hostile restiance.
You see, the idea is not to die for your country, but to MAKE THE OTHER SOB die for his.
We have won two World Wars with that philosophy and it works just as good today as the day Adolph Hitler killed himself while hiding like a rat in a hole because American fighting men were bent on one thing and one thing only - KILLING THE ENEMY.
No argument here with anything you said. But there is an American serviceman being court martialed even today for killing an un-armed Iraqi "insurgent", apparantly for no other reason than to just kill him. If this is true, the it was murder.......
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