TO THE EDITOR:
The American flag is a national symbol and Bush et al. misrepresent it. I would say that they soil the flag and that therefore I was disposing of a flag that had already been desecrated, my American flag.
Bush et al. have shown their support for the troops by cutting veteran benefits.
Richard Bean's assertion that he was showing support for the troops is in contradiction to what Bush has demonstrated by manufacturing evidence to support the war in the first place, putting them in harm's way by deception.
This is what I was calling attention to - the fact that if there was a draft, there would have been much more public discourse against military intervention in Iraq - particularly if the wealthier classes' sons and daughters were put in harm's way.
These leaders wrap themselves in the flag, leading the people to assume that they stand for freedom, when out of the other side of their mouth, they claim that citizens of other nationalities don't enjoy the protections of the Constitution. Remember the rights we are supposedly bringing to Iraq.
This government appointed as ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, who was implicated in the cover-up of human rights abuses (read: murder) in Honduras and in involvement with the CIA's military funding of the Contras, undermining the Boland amendment. Can you say "Iran-Contra"?
From all that I have read in response to my protest, there has been little discussion in the way of the question of the draft or the war in Iraq that I raised.
This is telling. While U.S. troops are being killed in an illegal war, not to mention the devastation this country has wrought on Iraq for the past 15 years, after we told Saddam to go ahead and invade Kuwait, College Republicans are whining about someone burning their flag. My flag. This government's response to the damage: "It was worth it."
