The few, the proud, the utterly confused

You may have seen this story already. If not, it's my dubious pleasure to bring you up to speed.

This week, at their annual meeting in Honolulu, the national commander of the American Legion national commander declared war on people who . . . well, who aren't in favor of war, for whatever reason.

Editor & Publisher has the story:

"The American Legion will stand against anyone and any group that would demoralize our troops, or worse, endanger their lives by encouraging terrorists to continue their cowardly attacks against freedom-loving peoples," Thomas Cadmus, national commander, told delegates at the group's national convention in Honolulu.

The delegates voted to use whatever means necessary to "ensure the united backing of the American people to support our troops and the global war on terrorism."

In his speech, Cadmus declared: "It would be tragic if the freedoms our veterans fought so valiantly to protect would be used against their successors today as they battle terrorists bent on our destruction."

He explained, "No one respects the right to protest more than one who has fought for it, but we hope that Americans will present their views in correspondence to their elected officials rather than by public media events guaranteed to be picked up and used as tools of encouragement by our enemies."

(At this point, Editor & Publisher helpfully observed, "This might suggest to some, however, that American freedoms are worth dying for but not exercising." Their report continues:)

Without mentioning any current protestor, such as Cindy Sheehan, by name, Cadmus recalled: "For many of us, the visions of Jane Fonda glibly spouting anti-American messages with the North Vietnamese and protestors denouncing our own forces four decades ago is forever etched in our memories. We must never let that happen again….

"We had hoped that the lessons learned from the Vietnam War would be clear to our fellow citizens. Public protests against the war here at home while our young men and women are in harm's way on the other side of the globe only provide aid and comfort to our enemies."

Four thousand delegates unanimously approved a resolution declaring the Legion's unconditional support across the board for all persons and actions connected with the war on terror and "protecting our values and way of life"--said values and way of life apparently not including freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience, freedom of association, or freedom to petition the government for redress of grievances.

And just to ice the cake, Tbogg does the homework and offers us this biographical information on national commander Cadmus:

Thomas P. Cadmus of Ypsilanti, Mich. was elected National Commander of the 2.7 million-member American Legion on Sept. 2, 2004 in Nashville, Tenn. during the 86th National Convention of the nation's largest veterans organization.

Cadmus is a United States Army veteran where he served as an Armored Reconnaissance Specialist from 1965 to 1967. He left the Army as a Specialist 5th (E-5). During his time in the Army he was stationed at Fort Knox, Ky. and Munich, Germany.

Tbogg adds:

Soooo...any lessons he learned about Vietnam during his two years of service he obviously learned from afar. Or, to put it another way:

Jane Fonda spent more time in Vietnam than Thomas Cadmus did.

Never have so many given so much to defend rights they so clearly don't understand.

Postscript:

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, meanwhile, gathered in Idaho this week to hear President Bush defend his Iraq policy. Judging from the photo, that resolution might have passed in that body as well, but it wouldn't have passed unanimously.

If you admire his ear gear, click here.