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Typical of liberals, they’re pretending to be something they’re not. Whether they’re pretending to be Republicans or claiming to support the troops, their disingenuous rhetoric knows no limits.

On the Ruston Way waterfront in Tacoma this weekend there are thousands of poster-board grave markers put up by an anti-war group called Veterans for Peace. I stopped by to speak with their representative and heard exactly what I expected. So let me address some of this and see if what they claim actually holds up.

“This isn’t an anti-war protest, it’s a tribute” - Let’s look at the definition of tribute in the American Heritage Dictionary (I’ve selected the relevant entries):

1. A gift, payment, declaration, or other acknowledgment of gratitude, respect, or admiration
2. Evidence attesting to some praiseworthy quality or characteristic

As I looked over these costume grave markers I didn’t see anything that showed any gratitude, respect or admiration. All I saw was an acknowledgment that they died in the war in Iraq. Most had name, rank, hometown, how and where they died. I saw nothing of their accomplishments although I was told that Gold Star recipients were acknowledge, though it wasn’t evident exactly how they were.

So for a moment let me give them the benefit of the doubt. They’re saying nothing about these fallen troops except who they were and how they died. Is their death a ‘praiseworthy quality or characteristic’?

These brave men and women died in service to their country, protecting our freedom and our very lives from people who have proven that they want to come to our country to kill us. And this war clearly is about our survival. George Bush said to the terrorists when the war started, “bring it on”, and they did. Iraq became the front in the war on terror. Al Qaeda brought their ‘A’ game and lost. Many of those so-called ‘insurgents’ who died in Iraq were actually foreigners who went to Iraq to fight the war for Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The same groups that have vowed to wipe the U.S. from the face of the earth. So clearly, these men and women died in defense of this country.

And they have been successful. There has not been a successful terrorist attack on U.S. soil by any of those groups since the war began. I would call that a tremendous success. But there was no mention of that anywhere at this so-called ‘tribute’.

In addition to protecting our country they also protected innocent Iraqis by capturing suicide bombers before they could kill innocent men, women and children. They have uncovered vast caches of explosives and other weapons that would have been used against innocent people, not just against soldiers. But I saw no mention of that fact at this so-called tribute. It’s certainly praiseworthy. But there wasn’t a peep about it.

Before their death many of the military personnel who were killed in Iraq were involved in a tremendous humanitarian effort to rebuild that country not just from the war effort, but also from the neglect and damage perpetrated the Hussein regime on the people of that country. Many of those who died had helped to rebuild schools, hospitals, sewer, water and electrical systems. Many delivered food, water and medical supplies to those in need. But I didn’t see any mention of that at this so-called tribute.

So I asked the representative of Veterans for Peace about that. Her response was that “we offer people who want to come and pay tribute to those who have fallen to come and do so.” But that means that what the visitors are doing is a tribute. It doesn’t mean that what this group is doing is a tribute. They’re supposedly just giving the opportunity for others to pay tribute. That’s quite a big difference.

Let me give you an analogy. A police officer protects the right of churches to worship as they choose. But the officers don’t actually take part in that worship (unless they choose to, but it would not be allowed while on duty). This group is putting themselves in much the same position. They’re offering the opportunity to pay tribute without actually paying tribute themselves. So when they say that they are paying tribute, it’s a veiled lie.

So looking at the definition of tribute (above) is this group displaying their “acknowledgment of gratitude, respect, or admiration” for the death of these people? I saw no other evidence of anything that was accomplished by these fallen servicemen and women. What a ghastly statement to be making. A tribute to the fact that they died. It can’t be a tribute to anything else unless since nothing else was mentioned about any of them.

A horribly inaccurate death toll - They had a sign (two copies of it) that listed how many had died in Iraq as a result of the war. They used the completely erroneous number of 1,000,000 Iraqis. I won’t get into details about why this number is wrong, but I’ll let you look at a very liberal view of the death total in Iraq as compiled in Wikipedia. Notice that the two highest (by far) numbers were arrived at by surveying people, not by actual research and analysis of data.

Looking for a consensus of the reports quoted in that article (wiki), excluding the erroneous survey results, it would seem as though 150,000 or less would be more accurate. There was also no mention of the fact that under Saddam Hussein there were an average of 10,000 deaths per month in Iraq or in the wars (which he started). So it would appear that the invasion of Iraq has brought the death toll in that nation down from an estimated 650,000 (65 months X 10,000 per month under Saddam) to about 25% of that. I would call that both a success and praiseworthy.

The point of all of that is a) they cited the worst figure they could find, b) the figure they cited was way out of line with all other estimates, even the most liberal, and c) they denied the success of the efforts of those they claim to be paying tribute to.

Misguided sincerity? Just to be certain that I’m not just assigning motives to this group, I want to look at the possibility that they’re actually sincere in an effort to honor the troops, but maybe a little misguided in their approach. So I took a look at their Web site and the material they presented in their booth.

Nothing in the literature really draws attention to the troops in an apparent effort to honor them. Nothing that seems to honor their service or their sacrifice. Just a bunch of watered down anti-war activists’ rhetoric.

The Web site is easier to link to and quote, so here are a few things I found over there. Please be sure to check it out for yourself and see if you get the feeling that they’re honoring the troops or if they’re just an anti-war activist group. Here are some quotes to give you a feel for the Web site and the organization:

VFP Board President Speaks at Impeachment Hearing

Take Action Against Military Recruitment at Milwaukee’s Summerfest

Chapter 11 Lowers Flag on Flag Day

VFP Goes to Washington D.C. and Scores One for Impeachment!

That was just a few from the first page.

And under “Affiliates, Campaigns and Projects” we see such things as:

Military Families Speak Out
Iraq Veterans Against the War
Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Impeachment Campaign
Counter - Recruitment Campaign
Bring Them Home Now

Maybe it’s just me but if they really were supporting the troops and trying to honor them with this tribute, you’d think there would be a little more focus on that instead of anti-war activism and Bush hatred. No link to the VFW, DAV, VA benefits assistance (on the main page). No mention of accomplishments in the war effort by these fallen soldiers (airmen, marines and seamen). Nope. Just anti-war activism.

I was reading a post on the local newspaper’s blog about the event. I guess I shouldn’t expect anything resembling investigative journalism from they guy who reports on local fruit stands, but he could at least link to the organizers Web site so that readers know what the event is really about.

All things considered… I can’t see any evidence that this is actually a tribute. So once again liberals are lying about who they are and what they’re doing.

Which brings up the question, ‘why were they given a permit to take up the biggest area on the Ruston Way waterfront on what would likely be that last day(s) for families to get out together before school starts and the weather worsens’. I asked about the permit and they said they got it from the Parks Department. I wonder how they represented themselves to get that permit and whether they admitted that they were actually an anti-war activist group staging a protest.

So in effect, a small group of people (I saw up to six) took up the space that I’ve seen used by over 100 on the last 3-day weekend of summer. Great use of tax dollars by our parks department. How about we build a museum for these folks, too?

It isn’t hard to find ways to honor the troops, especially those fallen in time of war. In a military town like Tacoma it isn’t hard to find military or retired military personnel to honor. This display was more of a disgrace to them than it was a tribute. They have a constitutionally protected right to protest the war, but to drag the names of these fallen heros into their rhetoric is shameful.

By the way, they did not ask permission from the families of those fallen if they could use the name of the loved one whom they lost. The exact quote was, “it’s public record.” However, she did say that if someone requests it they will take the name down. Maybe we should get the word out to these families about what’s being done in the name of those they’ve lost. Maybe they would want to contact that organization and let them know whether it’s not all right for them to do this.

And for the record, I’m not trying to speak for them either. They brought this protest to my neighborhood.

Update: I stopped by again today, picked up some more info. After I saw that the info that they handed out had the “~655,000 Iraqis” killed figure instead of the ~1,000,000 like their sign say, I watned to know why. The first glib answer that I got was “one of these figures is updated”, but when I questioned it he retracted it.

I overheard him talking to a couple, handing them a business card and telling that that “what we do is help veterans when they return from the war”. He later claimed that he wasn’t a member of Veterans for Peace but was part of some other organization but I’m pretty sure the card he handed the couple was for Veterans for Peace since those were the only ones available on the literature table. Notice that he said, “we” then denied he was part of the organization. Does that count as a lie, too?

Another piece of info on the table was the Veterans for Peace newsletter (24 pages, stapled incl. the merchandise order form, you’ve gotta love capitalism). The front page stories: “The Winter Soldier Movement Will Be Heard”, and “VFP goes to D.C., score one for impeachment”. The first is a whiny statement about the mainstream media ignoring them. I didn’t bother to read the other, since even San Fran Nan and Crazy Harry Reid have already given up on it.

In case you’re not aware of what Winter Soldier is, it was not only the title of a book by John Kerry, but was also the name adopted by a movement which he was part of. It’s the one where Kerry and made lying accusations about supposed attrocities committed in Viet Nam by American soldiers. To my knowledge none of the allegations were substanciated or prosecuted. How many more lies will have to be proven false before these people give up?

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 30th, 2008 at 8:01 pm and is filed under BlogNetNews.com, FeedTacoma.com, Military, Tacoma Contradictions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.