NOVEMBER 22,
2006 - SYRACUSE WOMAN ACCUSED OF SPITTING ON SOLDIER
Today, there are again
discussions whether 'Spitting on Veterans' should be an accepted protest against the War on Terror.
These discussions are spreading around the internet, because of Lauren Maggi's of Syracuse recent accused airport attack on
a soldier. (Articles below)
On the internet (And probably off
the internet), you can find people on both sides of the issue. Most Americans are against it.
But there are still a high number of people that say 'Spitting on Veterans' is only just an urban legend.
(Strangely, many of these people are the same people, who say no planes hit the World Trade Center on 9-11.)
I was never spit on when I returned from Vietnam, but I know a good number of Vietnam veterans, who say they were spit upon.
The only time, I wore my uniform after returning from Vietnam was when I was hanging out with some friends in my hometown
of Rosedale, Queens. It was a Sunday in April 1971. At the time, John
Kerry was all over the television news and newspapers.
I got
on the first stop of a NYC bus at the Rosedale, Long Island Railroad Train Station. I was wearing my Marine uniform
with my Vietnam ribbons, Combat Action ribbon and the Purple Heart. I was the only rider getting on.
As I was about to pay my fare, the bus driver placed his hand over the coin box. He told me that he would let me on
the bus for free, if I would sit in the back of the bus. He told me that he did not want any trouble on the bus.
Since I usually sat in the back anyway, I had no problem with it. But it was the first and last time, I wore my Marine
uniform after I returned from Vietnam. At the time, many servicemen and servicewomen were being told by their
officers not to wear their uniforms in public, unless they were looking for trouble. (It's sad
looking back...)
What
I remember most about anti-war protestors targeting military men and women, and veterans back then was the two
attacks against my hometown of Rosedale, Queens Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I was still in Vietnam when the two
paint and tar attacks took place. The protesters intentionally hit the names of the town's seven Vietnam War dead.
Someone sent
me the news clippings, while I was living in the Duc Duc Refugee Village.
Pictures of the two
attacks at the link.
I hope that this crap does not get out of hand again.
Jack Cunningham
Sussex, NJ / Rosedale, NY
Anti-War Protesters' Anger Is
Misplaced
Friday, December 08, 2006
By John Gibson
A lot of anti-war Democrats have been insisting the war in Iraq is Vietnam all over again. And as if to validate that point, we find this bit of news in The Syracuse Post-Standard of Syracuse, New York:
"A Syracuse woman is accused of spitting in a Fort Drum soldier's face at Hancock Airport. Lauren Maggi, 35, was charged with second-degree harassment after the Nov. 22 incident, according to a police
report."
So it is Vietnam all over again, now that the Democrats have won. Now we have anti-war protesters
living again the darkest days of the Vietnam War, when American soldiers got off the plane and anti-war types spit on them.
I was around for the Vietnam protest days. I wasn't for the Vietnam War, but I was horrified people
who opposed it would blame the soldiers themselves. The soldiers were doing their duty. They didn't order themselves into
that war, and they are not ordering themselves into this war either.
But here we go again. That grotesque sense of self-righteousness has evidently overtaken the anti-war
types again, and it is to the great shame of the anti-Iraq war movement that this is happening again.
Did this soldier get spit on because he or she fought in the war, or because re-enlistment rates
are running at record levels, or because somebody who is against the war is so frustrated with Bush and Cheney and Rummy that everybody in uniform is the same as the commander in chief? Who knows.
This is wrong, it is out of line, it is shameful, it is borderline psychotic. I can hardly wait
to hear what the defense is when the spitter turns up in court. According to the report, she walked up to two soldiers who
were out of uniform, asked them if they were in the military, and when they said yes she spit in their face.
It is the opening of a terrible episode in the Iraq war, a moment when the blame for the war is
misplaced onto the shoulders of the men and women who are doing their duty and fighting a war whatever their personal feelings
about the war are.
I don't know what the court is going to do to the spitter. The law probably doesn't allow much.
But whatever the law allows, the judge should take it to the max.
We don't need to relive this part of Vietnam, even if calling the Iraq war another Vietnam is a
convenient weapon for those who oppose it.
This is a moment of shame, pure and simple.
That's My Word.
Watch John Gibson weekdays at 5 p.m.
ET on "The Big Story" and send your comments to: myword@foxnews.com
.................................................
Woman
accused of spitting in soldier's face
A Syracuse woman was charged after a Fort Drum
soldier accused her of spitting on him without provocation at Hancock International Airport, Syracuse police said.
Lauren
Maggi, 35, of 256 Thurber St., was charged with second-degree harassment after the Nov. 22 incident, according to a police
report.
Jason Jones, 21, told police a woman he did not know walked up to him near the United Airlines ticket counter,
asked him if he was a Fort Drum solider and, when he responded that he was, spat in his face.
A second soldier on the
scene supported Jones’ accusation, police said. Maggi offered no explanation for her conduct, police said. She could
not be reached for comment tonight.
WHEN I WAS IN VIETNAM
MY HOMETOWN'S VETERAN MEMORIAL WAS ATTACKED
TWICE BY WAR PROTESTERS.
Pictures of the two
attacks at the link.
