U.S. making same mistake

found this in my local paper 'The Province' today sunday, july 9,2006. if you want the link you can pay for the subscription , otherwise i guess you will have to take my word for it... till proven otherwise

Castlegar – The U.S is making the same mistake in Iraq as it did in Vietnam – and jeopardizing its international standing in the world, says former senator George McGovern.
The former presidential candidate told a crowd of about 300 people here yesterday that the decision to enter Iraq is “cut from the same cloth” as the decision to enter Vietnam.
“This business of selling a large part of the American people on the notion that the best way to fight terrorism is to put our army into Iraq is cut from the same cloth of unreality and cynicism,” McGovern said at a weekend reunion of Vietnam-era draft dodgers and deserters.
He told the crowd that Americans haven’t learned as much as they should about the lessons of the past – a reference to the 58,000 U.S soldiers who died in the Vietnam conflict.
The failed 1972 presidential candidate made it clear he was not opposed to war – he fought in the Second World War – but he never supported the Vietnam War which he described as a “stupid, useless war.”
“I’m sick and tired of old men dreaming up wars in which young men do the dying,” he said.
McGovern was the democratic presidential candidate in the 1972, losing to Richard Nixon.
U.S lawyer Jeff House was at the reunion and told reporters yesterday that he now represents about 20 soldiers who have either deserted from the Iraq war or went to Canada before they were sent to Iraq.
Ernest Hekannen, a nelson artist who moved to this area rather than get drafted for Vietnam, said the U.S must recognize the “enormity of its deeds in Vietnam or it will continue to commit war crimes.”
The reunion was held to honour U.S draft resisters who came to Canada during the late 1960’s and early ‘70s and the Canadians that welcomed them.
While it is not clear how many Iraq war deserters are in Canada, fighting to be allowed to stay, it’s only a fraction of the number of Vietnam War resisters and deserters who moved to Canada.
The reunion is being held in the West Kootenay city, a region where hundreds of draft dodgers settled in the late 1960’s and early ‘70s.
Many draft dodgers returned after President Jimmy Carter granted an amnesty in 1977.
It’s believed that about half the original number chose to remain in Canada.

-CP

this what caught my eye and why i felt the need to post this. this is exactly how i feel about the situation.

“I’m sick and tired of old men dreaming up wars in which young men do the dying,” he said.

Im canadian so i guess i will never understand the draft... hopefully

what is an american point of view on instead of just saying "no" i dont want to go to war, relocating your family? is this the only option? when it comes down to it, you are being asked to kill for someone elses cause, and it could drasticly contradict your morals, what do you do?

[edit on 9-7-2006 by tom goose]

[edit on 9-7-2006 by tom goose]