Winter Soldiers
The term “Winter Soldiers” is derived from the writings of Thomas Paine. In his first Crisis paper, he wrote critically of “Sunshine patriots” and “summer soldiers.” The term honors those who stick it out when times are tough.
In more recent times it was used to describe hearings held in 1971 that described atrocities committed by our soldiers. John Kerry testified at those hearings and drew the wrath of the idiots on the Right when he ran for president.
Even more recently—just a few weeks ago—in Silver Spring, Maryland, a summit was hosted by Iraq Veterans Against the War.
(I would like to thank Tom Gascoyne, publisher of The Chico Beat, for enlightening me on this—I sure as hell didn’t catch this on the FAUX news channel.)
According to The Nation magazine, several soldiers testified of atrocities they themselves had committed while bringing democracy to the Iraqi people. Several soldiers were prepared to testify under oath in a Court of Law.
For a link to the summit hearings click HERE
It seems that the difference in the VietNam hearings and the Iraq hearings is only of detail—the horrors recounted are about equal.
Could this be why suicides by returning soldiers are at their highest levels ever?
We’ve destroyed the nation of Iraq, we’ve destroyed close to a million Iraqis.
Now, this war is destroying the very people who have to fight it.
Wouldn't now be a good time to end it?