The Winter Soldier Of Our Discontent

Last Friday’s commercial for the Iraq war in the Philadelphia Inquirer by Kevin Ferris (here) was actually somewhat tame and moderate for him; it noted the Winter Soldiers II Conference last Saturday in Washington and also a dinner at the New York Stock Exchange honoring all those awarded the Medal of Honor.

Oh, but don’t worry; Ferris heaped his typical derision on the war protestors…

Among the goals of this year's gathering is this: "Once and for all, we must show that soldiers are not criminals; this war is criminal." But if the war is criminal, what does that say of those who fight?

And…

Winter Soldiers includes both Iraq and Afghanistan when it talks about "this war." But the group's concern about misconduct is reserved for one side only. The aims and atrocities of al-Qaeda don't merit mention.

Yes, Ferris, perhaps they don’t at this time. But hard as it may be for you to imagine, this country and, by association, its armed forces also, are supposed to act more honorably than our enemy. After all, if we didn’t, how would be distinguish one from the other?

Also, Ferris quoted a Salon.com article about the new Winter Soldier movement as follows…

Salon.com, no friend of the Bush administration, interviewed several of the participants before the gathering and reported: "The soldiers were unable to provide . . . any conclusive evidence of war crimes."

That’s actually pretty accurate quoting – the entire quote appears below…

In interviews with Salon, several veterans from the group described incidents in Iraq that they believed constituted wrongdoing by the U.S. military, including disproportionate use of air power resulting in civilian deaths. The soldiers were unable to provide Salon with any conclusive evidence of war crimes. But as the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq approaches, the allegations they and other Winter Soldier members will publicize in Washington this week add to a long-term set of questions about the damage and destruction wrought by U.S. military operations over years of war.

And what follows is a video testimonial from Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia of the Florida National Guard, who served six months in Iraq, refused to go back, was court martialed and spent a year in prison; he heads up the Winter Soldier II campaign...



And by the way, please understand that I am not trying to diminish the sacrifices of the veterans honored at the Stock Exchange dinner. They deserve our thanks and respect also of course.

But anyone who continues to nurse the illusion that the Iraq war still enjoys overwhelming popular support by our military or anyone else should take a look at this.

Update 3/26/08: Regarding those who have served, this is wonderful news; all that remains to complete the Dolington, PA cemetery deal is for Toll Brothers to sign over the land tomorrow to the VA. Kudos to Patrick Murphy and all of those who have worked to make this happen (even Mike Fitzpatrick; fair is fair).