Silent knights

Since the Iraq War began in March 2003, veterans of the Vietnam War haven't said much. That is not a criticism. Nor is it a plea. It is only an observation made after five years of witnessing a war without end.

In matters of war, those who went to Vietnam are under no further obligation. They fought in a place most of them knew nothing about and for a reason most of them only vaguely understood. They did it at the risk of death and though their lives had barely begun. They did it because their country asked them and because they thought it was the right thing to do, and they continued to do it even when they and their country were no longer so certain.

The veterans of Vietnam long ago proved their mettle. Their bravery and heroism are public record. If they don't want to speak out about the war in Iraq, if they prefer to share their opinions quietly among each other or not at all, you'll get no argument from me. Their balance shows a sizeable credit.

The two wars – the one atop ancient sands and the other inside ancient jungles – are not unlike. Their origins can be drawn to men who had little understanding of history and who held exaggerated thoughts of their own significance – a most dangerous combination. Each war became the province of marketers as much as military men, repeatedly repackaged and rebranded whenever the buying public began to lose faith. Eventually, nothing except contrived fear of some shapeless and shadowed menace – the advance of communism if South Vietnam fell, the rise of religious terrorism absent victory in Iraq – could keep Americans convinced in the cause, and ultimately that didn't work, either.

Bob Yager joined the Navy on June 9, 1969, six days after graduating from Washington High School. Though he never set foot in Vietnam, Yager knows others who did.

"Most of us are of the same opinion: Iraq is just another Vietnam. We are spending our national treasure and killing our young people and for what?"

Vietnam War veterans, says Yager, did not come to that conclusion quick. But he senses theirs is a collective opposition now and notes some of them have taken their objections to Washington while others have launched Web sites such as Vietnam Veterans Against the War to voice their dissent.

The outcry from veterans of Vietnam to the Iraq War has been neither particularly loud nor particularly public, however. Maybe they are as confused as the rest of us. When we liberated Iraq, we did the Iraqis a great favor. Granted, Saddam Hussein was not harboring weapons of mass destruction or bands of cold-blooded al-Qaida killers. But his evil was monstrous, and most Americans see his removal as reason to wage war.

But what they find difficult to fathom is what happened post-Saddam: the awful vengeance against Iraqis by Iraqis, the ruthless grasping for power and wealth, the ongoing disregard for the rule of law, the shameless profiteering and – most troubling – the brutal acts of violence against selfless American soldiers.

Maybe the veterans of Vietnam are as weary of this war as the rest of us. At 66 months in length, the Iraq War far exceeds the 37-month Korean War and the 44-month span of World War II from the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, to when they surrendered to U.S. forces on Aug. 15, 1945. Even the Civil War was spent after 48 months.

In poll after poll, two-thirds of Americans no longer approve of the Iraq War, and most want the troops to come home. Yet the president and Congress ignore that advice and march on. The war has moved off the front page and on some days merits no mention on the back pages, either. One can stand only so much bad news.

Though a far cry from the 58,000 U.S. troops who perished in Vietnam, more than 4,000 American soldiers have died in Iraq, and tens of thousands have been wounded – some grievously so. Maybe the veterans of Vietnam remember how this nation turned its collective back on them, how it turned critical and cold to their sacrifices even while they continued to be killed, and they refuse to repeat that mistake.

Or maybe – like us – they fear the recrimination that comes to those who question this war. Critics have been labeled unpatriotic. They have been called un-American. Vice President Dick Cheney – he of the multiple deferments to avoid being shipped to Vietnam – has made leveling these baseless accusations his mission. He has likened opponents of the war to people who cut and run when times get tough. The implication, of course, is they are cowards. The irony, of course, is he is the one without conviction and courage.

Between the two major candidates for president, perhaps nothing divides them more than their plans for Iraq.

John McCain is willing to stay.

Barack Obama is willing to leave.

Conditions in Iraq are improving. Fewer American soldiers are dying. Fewer Iraqis are dying, too. Some credit the surge in U.S. troop numbers for this change though just as plausible is the possibility that Iraqis have simply tired of butchering each other.

Regardless of the reason, this nation no longer can afford this war. The loss of capital – both human and financial – is too steep. America has a $9 trillion federal debt and more than $50 trillion of unfunded Medicare payments, Social Security payments and other liabilities – a $300,000 millstone around the neck of each man, woman and child.

Iraqis – like most people – are good and decent. But the hard truth is we cannot continue to spend more than $10 billion a month to rescue them. It is money we do not have.

Maybe the veterans of Vietnam feel likewise. Or maybe in matters of war, they just want to be left alone, and in that respect, maybe they are no different than all the veterans of all the wars. After fighting all the battles they care to fight, maybe all they want is peace.