NATO Summit: Veterans Share Views on NATO, Afghanistan
By Laura Fitzgerald and Cheryl Waity The Red Line
Project @RedLineProject Posted:
Thursday, May 17, 2012
As world leaders prepare to make decisions on the fate of the war in
Afghanistan at the NATO summit this weekend in Chicago, the Iraq Veterans
Against War members are preparing to symbolically return their medals from
serving in these wars in a Sunday ceremony outside McCormick Place.
As the dignitaries discuss foreign policy inside, the veterans will occupy
the corner of Cermak Road and Michigan Avenue along with other protesters.
Their ceremony will take place behind anti-scaling fence that separates them by
two blocks from the decision-makers inside McCormick.
And while they won’t be consulted about policy issues, the veterans’ service
overseas has shaped their views of America’s involvement in Afghanistan.
Here is what three veterans think (click on name for full
story):
"This is not the first
time that NATO has directed illegal and unjust wars in the name of
war-profiteering. Unless we stand up and use our First Amendment rights
to show them how much we disapprove of their actions and policies, this
type of warfare will continue to plague us as a society and
species."
"I
don’t really know what are we getting out of Afghanistan now. And I
guess that’s why we’re getting out now. I completely support the
president and everybody else who’s saying we need to get out. I think a
managed withdrawal is definitely the right thing to do to try to hand
it over to the Afghans.”
"Afghanistan has turned
into the longest war in American history. And you’ve got to look at the
cost of life on both sides-the civilian casualties, the enemy
casualties and the U.S. casualties. And what’s it all worth and why
have we done it?”
