Vietnam Vets
Call for Fort Benning Soldiers to Oppose the War
in Iraq
By Bill Quigley
06/07/07 "ICH"
-- --- Two highly decorated Vietnam veterans published a
full-page color ad picturing dozens of white cemetery crosses
and an American flag for several days in the Columbus (Georgia)
Ledger-Enquirer titled “An Open Letter to the Soldiers of Fort
Benning.” Fort Benning is located in Columbus Georgia and is
home to thousands of members of the U.S. Army.
Calling the war in Iraq a mistake, veterans Charlie Litkey
and Roy Bourgeois offered, as members of Veterans for peace, to
help active duty soldiers oppose the war.
Charlie Liteky was awarded a Congressional Medal Honor for
saving 20 soldiers in Vietnam. Roy Bourgeois, now a Maryknoll
priest, a Navy officer for four years, was awarded a Purple
Heart during his tour of duty in Vietnam. Both vets have years
of history at Fort Benning calling for the closure of the highly
controversial School of the Americas, Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation. See
www.soaw.org
Liteky and Bourgeois point out in their ad that Major
General Paul Eaton, former commander of Fort Benning, told the
U.S. Senate that “The U.S. has failed to secure the peace…We
went in with a bad plan. Stay the course is not a strategy.”
The ad also quotes Major General John Batiste, Commander of
the First Infantry Division of the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2004 and
2005. Batiste, offered a promotion to become a three star
general instead resigned over the war in Iraq, saying “Somebody
had to speak out. If not me, who? How long are we going to
continue down this road to nowhere?”
“How long must we support a mistake?” ask Liteky and
Bourgeois in the letter. “Why should this country send more and
more members of our military to their early graves in an attempt
to justify the mistakes of the politicians in Washington?”
In bold letters over the picture of the gravesite white
crosses, they wrote, “Bring the troops home!”
The ad concluded with an invitation. “For more information
on how you can oppose the war in Iraq, write: Charlie Liteky,
Medal of Honor Vietnam. Roy Bourgeois, Purple Heart, Veteran.
Veterans for Peace. P.O. Box 3330, Columbus. GA 31903.
A June 7, 2007 letter to the editor of the Columbus
Ledger-Enquirer, the primary newspaper in the area, with a
circulation of about 50,000, was highly critical of the ad. “If
it weren't for our men in uniform fighting for our freedom,
these two men would be in a jail somewhere. … If Mr. Liteky and
Roy Bourgeois don't love our country, I suggest they pack their
duffle bags and move to Iraq.”
Fr. Roy Bourgeois said the ad will continue to run, at least
five times. “So far” he said, “we have received a couple of
letters from soldiers asking how they can oppose the war. Some
veterans have written supportive letters, some have criticized
us.” The reaction of the local community? “Some are happy.
Some are angry.” When asked how he reacts to angry people, Fr.
Bourgeois said, “When people in the U.S. tell me how
passionately they believe in the Iraq war, I ask them, then why
the hell are you here instead of over there? Only cowards want
other people to fight their wars for them.”
Bill is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola
University New Orleans. You can reach him at
Quigley@loyno.edu For
more information on the call for soldiers to resist the war in
Iraq, write Veterans for Peace. P.O. Box 3330, Columbus. GA
31903. Click
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