Star Trek

Updated 9 p.m. ET: CHICAGO -- Dozens of anti-war veterans tossed their medals onto a Chicago street Sunday near where NATO began its two-day summit, calling them “representations of hate,” “lies” and “cheap tokens,” and with some making emotional pleas for forgiveness from the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

With many dressed in military fatigues, they had filed through the streets in formation, chanting "N-A-T-O, NATO has got to go," and “No NATO, no war, we don't work for you no more,” leading about 2,000 protesters on a 2.5-mile march.

After “retiring” an American flag they carried through the streets and giving it to a woman whose soldier son committed suicide, they began hurtling their war service medals into the air -- a rare form of protest that was last done on a large scale by 900 Vietnam veterans in 1971.

The protesters cheered the post 9/11-era veterans on, clapping and yelling, “give them back!”

Members of Afghans for Peace stood alongside the veterans, holding the Afghan flag and making speeches, too.

“All we have is this flag, but not our sovereign land. I’d like to direct my message to the NATO representatives here in Chicago today. For what you’ve done to my home country, I’m enraged; for what you’ve done to my people, I’m disgusted; for what you’ve done to these veterans, I’m heartbroken,” said Suraia Sahar. “I sympathize with their disappointment and being failed by the system and having their lives, their morals and humanity, toiled with.”

Another man said he was representing deserters who can’t come back to the U.S. and threw many of their medals away.

Steven Acheson, an Army veteran who before the march said he had been waiting a long time for this moment, though he was also anxious about it, threw away his medals for the children of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“May they be able to forgive us for what we have done to them, may we begin to heal and may we live in peace from here till eternity,” he said.

Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Gotta give props to the Chicago PD for keeping this rather large protest under control. This would have easily errupted into full scale rioting.

I bet half of these asshats don't even know what NATO stands for.  

I'm guessing that some that were claiming they were vets never actually served - only said they did to make a show.

And if you look at those organizations doing the protesting (and rioting,) it's the same as OWS....

I don't really know what NATO has to do with anything now.  Does it still exist?  If so, is the US still in it, or has it switched to just European nations, as for the attack on Libya, recently?

Whether the cold war was real or not, I think the NATO-Warsaw Pact stalemate helped to stabilize Europe and preserve the peace.  The old balance-of-power thing, which many in Europe called the Pax Americana.

Now, who knows what we're fighting for?

Watching some of the rioters there....  Why do they have to resort to violence?  One cop stabbed in the leg.... three others hospitalized.  50+ arrests.  Somone wearing a shirt calling for the killing of Glenn Beck... Bomb threats....  Black Bloc calling for the killing of cops...

Well, the media sources I have heard from tell a story of the Chicago police being out of line in their excessive use of force. I wasn't there, so I can't say.

While I am not sympathetic to your view, I do think you have a valid point in noting that the protesting veterans are only a tiny fraction ot the total number of veterans. Still, I think it is worth noting that many of these veterans changed thier minds as a result of their experiences. That may very well say something about what is to be learned from those experiences.

BamBam: "I'm guessing that some that were claiming they were vets never actually served - only said they did to make a show."

caltrek:  Weren't you the guy whi was just bragging about how much research you do in forming your opinions. Now you are "guessing"?

Why don't you try providing some real evidence rather than just guessing?

BamBam: And if you look at those organizations doing the protesting (and rioting,) it's the same as OWS....

caltrek: Still lying I see about what the organizations involved in the protest support I see. As for their association with OWS, I knew that there was something I liked about them.

Arrests can just as easily be used as evidence of an over reaction by the police .

If a cop was stabbed in the leg, that was of course out of line. The action of one individual should not be used to condemn the whole group. If it were, then there really would be grounds for condemning the entire Chicago police force.

Links please on the allegations regarding Black Bloc...unless of course you just like spreading unfounded rumors purely for propogandistic purposes. The absence of links or some other such citation will just be taken as evidence by myself (and hopefully other fair minded individuals) of the willingnes to spread lies, distortions, and falsehoods just for the sake of ideology.

Isn't it funny how when certain types of people protest something that the conservatives don't think should be protested, they're suddenly not really that type of people?

Well, while admin is busy recovering from the latest spam attack, I thought I would take this opportunity to bump this thread back to the first page. Feel free to bump your own favorites back up to page one.