2008 Woodie Awards
Time for a Revolution
Kevin Agnese
Issue date: 12/8/04 Section: Perspectives
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When college students from across this country discuss twentieth century American history, the Vietnam War will certainly come up. Students learn about the highly controversial war and discuss the more than 58,000 Americans and millions of Vietnamese who died in the war. We also hear about the massive anti-war protests, the draft, and the seemingly unanswered questions: Why were we there? Why did we go in the first place? When are we going to get out? Unfortunately, and tragically, the past continues to haunt us in the present. The Gulf of Tonkin incident sparked the drumbeats for war in Vietnam, while the Bush administration's main rationale for launching preemptive war in Iraq was their continued statements that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Statements delivered concerning the events in the Gulf of Tonkin sparked a war, and statements made by George W. Bush and members of his administration sparked a war. Both proved to be false. Not much has changed.
One of the enduring images of the war in Vietnam is that of young people protesting the war, and demanding that our troops come home. I wonder, why don't we see more of this today? I understand many young people turned against the war in Vietnam after the draft began, but large-scale protests against the war on college campuses and in the streets of America did occur before the draft was instituted. We have to act now. While I don't believe a draft will be imposed in the present war, I ask my fellow young people not to be hypocrites. Thousands, perhaps millions, of more young people and their families would be against the war in Iraq if a draft were instituted. Earlier this year on the HBO broadcast "Real Time With Bill Maher," Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York was asked what he thought would happen if a military draft in Iraq were imposed on our nation's young men. "Their parents," Rangel said, "Would say that we shouldn't be in Iraq in the first place." That couldn't be more accurate.
As someone who protested the war in Iraq before the invasion began, I am against this war, draft or no draft. Again, I don't think there will be one, but President Bush has already instituted a backdoor draft in Iraq, as national guardsman and reservists serve. Also, our troops are being ordered to stay in Iraq months after their tours were scheduled to end. Personally, I feel this should be an illegal practice. If a soldier in Iraq serves the tour of duty in which he or she signed up to serve, then it should be his or her right to leave. I often hear President Bush say that we can't set a timetable on when we will get out of Iraq because the insurgents will say to themselves that they just have to hold on and keep fighting until then. Bush doesn't seem to understand that insurgents fighting in their own country will never give up! This lesson should have been learned in Vietnam. Regardless of how many bombs were dropped and how many people were killed, Ho Chi Minh and the communist North refused to surrender. These insurgents that we are fighting now will never give up. They will keep killing our men and woman until the bitter end. By the time our last combat troops left Vietnam in 1973, over 58,000 Americans had lost their lives and more than 300,000 had been wounded. In 1975 Saigon fell to the communists, and the war was over. How many lives have to be lost in this war before our troops get to come home?
One of the enduring images of the war in Vietnam is that of young people protesting the war, and demanding that our troops come home. I wonder, why don't we see more of this today? I understand many young people turned against the war in Vietnam after the draft began, but large-scale protests against the war on college campuses and in the streets of America did occur before the draft was instituted. We have to act now. While I don't believe a draft will be imposed in the present war, I ask my fellow young people not to be hypocrites. Thousands, perhaps millions, of more young people and their families would be against the war in Iraq if a draft were instituted. Earlier this year on the HBO broadcast "Real Time With Bill Maher," Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York was asked what he thought would happen if a military draft in Iraq were imposed on our nation's young men. "Their parents," Rangel said, "Would say that we shouldn't be in Iraq in the first place." That couldn't be more accurate.
As someone who protested the war in Iraq before the invasion began, I am against this war, draft or no draft. Again, I don't think there will be one, but President Bush has already instituted a backdoor draft in Iraq, as national guardsman and reservists serve. Also, our troops are being ordered to stay in Iraq months after their tours were scheduled to end. Personally, I feel this should be an illegal practice. If a soldier in Iraq serves the tour of duty in which he or she signed up to serve, then it should be his or her right to leave. I often hear President Bush say that we can't set a timetable on when we will get out of Iraq because the insurgents will say to themselves that they just have to hold on and keep fighting until then. Bush doesn't seem to understand that insurgents fighting in their own country will never give up! This lesson should have been learned in Vietnam. Regardless of how many bombs were dropped and how many people were killed, Ho Chi Minh and the communist North refused to surrender. These insurgents that we are fighting now will never give up. They will keep killing our men and woman until the bitter end. By the time our last combat troops left Vietnam in 1973, over 58,000 Americans had lost their lives and more than 300,000 had been wounded. In 1975 Saigon fell to the communists, and the war was over. How many lives have to be lost in this war before our troops get to come home?