Infiltrators, Self Inflicted Wounds and Youthful Wisdom

Infiltrators, Self Inflicted Wounds and Youthful Wisdom

Recent postings in internet groups I have membership in have caused me to think back to my days of organizing VVAW here in Denver. As we grew bigger on both a national and local level we started getting folks claiming to be vets coming to our meetings or activities talking about “the revolution” and putting it to “the man” or ‘the system”. They’d encourage members to confront “the pigs” in ways that obviously would create a violent response.
Even being a stupid 20 year old grunt, it didn’t take me being a brain surgeon to figure we probably had some infiltrators sent by J. Edgar and his bullies. The perfect way to discredit VVAW was to have the public perceive us as a violent fringe group not representing the welfare of our brothers and sisters still in a war. Much like they discredited a group of noble brothers in the Panthers.
With the more sophisticated methods of communications in the world today, the opportunities for infiltration seem much greater. The misinformation of certain individuals in a group or on a blog site of a peace and justice activist is most likely not some accident in many cases. Rumsfeld has made it clear the internet was something needing to be addressed in selling the current wars to the public. He suggested entering groups and blogs of well known activists to disrupt their message.
Personal attacks on individuals, innuendo of someone lacking solidarity and overt attempts to divide groups need to be viewed with caution and skepticism, I believe.
A recent attack on someone who marched from Mobile to New Orleans because they disputed an article claiming nonviolence will never win in Israel seems to be an example. Throwing out words like Zionist or Nazi toward an individual because they express a differing opinion doesn’t seem in keeping with the ideals and goals of a group seeking peace and justice.
I think we also have to look at self-inflicted wounds we all sometimes cause. Anyone who reads anything I write should know by now I’m provocative by design. That means questioning the values or directions of the group. It means stating a personal opinion. The groups I’ve been part of have tolerated my rants. Many individuals have been very supportive of what I’ve written. So, I can’t complain about personal attacks.
I do want to complain about a recent response to something a member of IVAW was alleged to have said about Code Pink. Since this Iraq vet is from my home state of Colorado and I’ve crossed his path a few times, I know him to be a thoughtful and concerned activist.
The vet’s comment about Code Pink was something like “the veterans and families will end this war, not Code Pink.’ The blowback toward him was totally out of proportion in my opinion. I find it difficult to understand why the Iraq vet was accused of misogyny because he expressed an opinion about which groups he felt would be more effective in changing public opinion against the war.
He rightfully questioned the action of Code Pink outside Walter Reed Hospital. I remember there were many vets I know who are either members of VFP or VVAW who questioned that action at the time also. Questioning the action wasn’t about whether Code Pink had good intentions or whether they were a righteous activist group. It was a question of how the wounded troops in Walter Reed would perceive things.
Since I’ve been involved in many of the national actions as a person just wanting to help and not necessarily wanting to “take charge” I have seen things I’ve disagreed with in tactics. I voiced an opinion about Camp Casey and the possibility organizers were “playing” to the mainstream media too much in my local peace and justice yahoo group. I was “flamed” as being a misogynist, being unable to accept strong women as leaders, being against Cindy Sheehan and on and on.
Working as a RN for 20 plus years has given me ample opportunity to work with very strong women. I’ve been very fortunate to have supervisors who were exceptional. My role models in nursing are all women. I’ve enjoyed and benefited being with most nurses I’ve worked with in my career. More than 90% of my colleagues have been women.
Outside of my career I’ve become close with members of the local Code Pink through the activism I do for veterans. I give presentations at colleges and have spoken at several rallies in the Denver area representing VVAW and veterans. I talk about heroes in every talk I give.
My heroes are three nuns, Jackie Hudson , Carol Gilbert and Ardeth Platte, who entered a nuke site, spread their own blood in the sign of a cross and beat on the canopy of the underground missile to represent beating swords into ploughshares. (See the movie Conviction released this year – website http://ztsp.org/).
Rather than compromise their values they went to Federal prisons. They easily could have accepted a plea bargain but it would have suggested guilt where there wasn’t anything to be guilty about. I make sure to mention them everywhere I go.
So, being attacked as I was for voicing an alternative opinion was a lesson in how far we still have to go within peace and justice organizations to adhere to our own values. I wasn’t the only one to have the opinion about tactics used at Camp Casey related to the press. Many veterans made similar comments. Many veteran peace activists made such comments.
The Iraq veteran’s comment about Code Pink was definitely not the first one that criticized or intimated disagreement with tactics. Several VFP members “chased” a Code Pink member from the veterans’ ranks at the September 25, 2005 rally in D.C... I know because the woman dressed in pink came over to the veterans’ area to talk to me and my wife. She was a friend I’d not seen in months and we’d arranged to meet at the rally.
She and a friend were explicitly told by prominent members of VFP they “didn’t belong here”…with the veterans. I lost a lot of respect for men I once felt to be righteous activists that day.
In Covington, Louisiana I was at a meeting of organizing members of relief efforts for Katrina survivors late one night. A photojournalist from Michael Moore’s organization was present and asked the group what they thought of Code Pink. Like so many “good ole boys” meetings I’ve been at, the response was predictable.
One member called pink the most dangerous and negative color known to “man”. The male photojournalist made disparaging remarks. Others also spoke out negatively. I wrote about both incidents of the bashing of Code Pink in the local Yahoo group. Still, today, there are members of that group that have quit communicating with me because I questioned things at Camp Casey.
I liken this relatively small slight to the labeling of members of the Jewish faith as being Zionists. Zionism isn’t about the practice of Judaism anymore than beheadings of innocent people is about Islam or dropping cluster bombs on civilian populations is about Christianity.
We in the peace and justice community call ourselves liberal or progressive but clearly some of us ….most of us….don‘t like opinions that may be critical of ourselves. Coloring outside the lines of the group is frowned upon. And I’m not talking about overt attacks, racist remarks or hateful remarks. I talking about sometimes having a differing opinion or disagreeing with leaders like Cindy and Medea or Stan and Dave.
We create celebrity and icons in this country which sometimes works to our disadvantage if we find ourselves in disagreement. It becomes a microcosm of the larger syndrome of “America, love it or leave it”. Sometimes the very concept we profess to hate and despise becomes what we practice.
One other thing occurred to me as I read the “flaming” of the Iraq vet who made the statement about Code Pink. I work with a lot of younger people and believe in them. I truly believe it’s time for Vietnam veterans to turn the leadership over to the “young bloods”. It’s the young who will pay the greatest price for our generation’s failures. Let them have their rightful role of leadership!
It seems we’ve taken a parental role towards the younger members of the peace and justice movement. Their absence clearly makes a statement about how they feel. I hear from them about being excluded and tired of hearing “We Shall Overcome” or “Imagine”. When I step outside the “movement” and go looking for the young people I find incredible slam poets, musicians and intellectual people.
I marvel at how we’ve wasted the potential of the young, the communities of color and the poor and disenfranchised. We keep hearing the same “old” voices saying the same things but fail too often to have voices of diversity, fresh voices, and voices of the young.
The Vietnam veterans and our generation aren’t the keepers of wisdom. The wisdom of so many young people I talk with is allowed to be discounted or alienated. It seems time for us (my generation) to shut up occasionally and listen to the wisdom of those we’ve allowed to be excluded.
And I say all this with peace in my heart and mind.
Peace and solidarity,

Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
VVAW – Denver member
Combat vet of a war long ago