| Show 'I I The Salt Like Tribune OPINION All Saturday August 28 2004 Why do politicians remain fixated on Vietnam? WASHINGTON — What if both sides are right? That thought comes to mind repeatedly as I try to hash out the battle between veterans who attack John Kerry's Vietnam combat stories A striking example emerged at the newspaper where I work when Chicago Tribune metropolitan editor William Rood who was another swift boat commander record and those who in the operation that led defend it to Kerry's Silver Star Out of the fog of war Medal broke a politics and old memosilence to support the events ries long ago official account of Ken vI have'become the focus of Ty 's heroics in leading a 4 an ugly election year Ak 1969 attack against an mud fight as a group of ambush along enemy swift boat veterans and e 1 Ctmg River Dong contend that others "The critics have Kerry Lidn't deserve the taken pains to say Silver Star Bronze Star they're not trying to cast and three Purple Hearts CLAREN doubts on the merit of PAGE CE he was awarded for var-CHICAGO TRIBUNE what others did but ious actions their version of events Watching and reading the various has splashed doubt on all of us" he conflicting accounts of what hapf)ened wrote in an essay published in Sunday's or didn't happen of how brave Kerry Chicago Tribune "It's gotten harder and was or wasn't and how much he was harder for those of us who were there to hurt Or not hurt I'm struck by one con- listen to accounts we know to be untrue sistency: how his crews and others who especially when they come from people wereclosest in proximity to Kerry give who were not there" Indeed even those who were present the most support to Kerry's side of the th at the actions in question came away his dimming chances in Iowa reignited after Jim Rassman a Republican whose life Kerry saved in Vietnam reappeared in Kerry's life to endorse him at a campaign rally But "politics ain't beanbag" as Chicago writer Finley Peter Dutme's Mr Dooley famously said Inevitably Kerry's longtime adversaries would come up with ways to turn his lemonade into a big fat lemon which is not an easy task in defense of a president whose own history with the Texas Air National Guard has raised questions I suspect the real quarrel of Kerry's critics is not with his war record but with his peace movement record He was a prominent leader in protests by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War He recounted stories before Congress in 1971 that he had heard of American soldiers who "had personally raped cut off ears cut off " He also said he had heads "committed the same kind of atrocities " as thousands of other soldiers A lot of Vietnam veterans felt betrayed by Kerry's testimony although I have talked to others who were grateful with differing accounts of details such as whether there was hostile fire or not whether Kerry was hurt by enemy fire or fragments from his own grenade launcher But anyone who knows the alucourage it took to ride those minum swift boats up and down the rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta would have a hard time arguing that it did not take tremendous courage simply to report for duty every day As President Bush said on Monday distancing himself from the Kerry attacks "I think Sen Kerry served admirably and he ought to be proud of his record" post-comb- So why are we chewing over a 30-- war when we should be hashing out more current issues — like the Iraq war? The easiest answer is that it's a slow August for news between politi- cal conventions It's the "silly season" in newsroom lingo although this story offers little to laugh at And of course Kerry brought this dust storm on himself by making his war record a central theme in his campaign In a crowded Democratic field year-ol- d that he was exposing national leaders who the vets felt had betrayed them Kerry more recently has acknowledged that some of those horror stories were later discredited but he has not backed away from his central message that it was not the soldiers but the nation's Vietnam-er- a leaders who should be held accountable for the war's atrocities He has a point As we later learned projects such as the Phoenix counterinsurgency program authorized the use of brutal terrorist tactics against enemy combatants and sometimes civilians who got in our way in Vietnam's "free fire zones" Such are the ugly memories that make Vietnam a hot divisive topic that will haunt our baby boomer generation as long as we walk the earth Vietnam? BeWhy are we cause its questions remain unsettled in our national conscience Now Kerry's big battle will involve turning the debate around from what he did during the war to what he can do to avoid more wars like it Tribune Media Services California Republicans playing politics with immigrants Taco trucks cruised residential neighDALLAS — Elephants don't forget But you would think that every now and boithoods Before long Californians got fed up and — with the help of Republithen they could learn They haven't learned much in my cans in the Legislature and Gov Pete Wilson who was up for home state of California — they dewhere a group of renegade cided to do something Republicans seems hellabout it bent on reopening one of That something was the ugliest chapters in reAs ' cent political history: the Proposition 187 a ballot -battle 10 initiative that set out to over make California inhosillegal years ago immigration pitable to illegal immiIn 1994 I was grants The measure a radio talk show in Los barred illegal immi- 1 - grants and their chil- Angeles when voters In the 4 A state decided that a suredren from public schools social services fire way to get rid of un wanted guests was to burn LUBEN NAVARRETI'E and nonemergency down the house The guests health care While it THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS sailed through with the were illegal immigrants and support of nearly 60 they technically weren't really unwanted In fact they percent of voters the initiative was were desperately wanted — to do all never implemented Most of it was sorts of jobs all over the state The real struck down as unconstitutional by a problem was that the landscape had federal judge Then there were the political costs changed Young Mexican men hawked for the GOP Enraged by demonstrably bags of oranges on freeway medians television commercials 78 Billboards pitched products in Spanish - percent of Latinos voted against the initiative Latinos flocked to the Democratic Party where they helped deliver a string of elections and wound up in positions of power and influence Before 1996 there had never been a Latino speaker of the California Assembly In the eight years since there have been already dubbed the son of Proposition 187 — which supporters hope to put on the ballot in March 2006 if they can collect the nearly 600000 signatures necessary This initiative would create a constitutional amendment that would bar illegal immigrants from getting driver licenses as well as any public benefits not required by federal law — from welfare to housing subsidies to college scholarships to unemployment and disability checks Proponents say that denying these benefits will remove the "incentive" for people from other countries to emigrate without proper documentation They know better The real incentive is the jobs that Californians keep giving illegal immigrants in exchange for immigrants giving Californians a cushier and more affordable quality of life History need not repeat itself says Arnold Torres a longtime observer and participant in California politics and of the Sacramento-basepublic policy rum Torres and Torres For one thing he predicts the people pushing this will themselves be pushed to the fringes of their own party three e - '' anti-Latin- o And now a similar drama is being played out This time the spark is of all things the movement in the Legislature to give driver licenses to illegal immigrants Legislators had already provided licenses once before but the law was repealed with the help of Gov Arnold Now Schwarzenegger Schwarzenegger is ready to do something radical: restore the driver licenses but only if they carry a distinguishing mark showing that the driver is an illegal immigrant Even going that far is unacceptable to immigration hard-liner- s within the Republican Party who eager to preempt any driver license reform seem to have decided that the best way to kill a mosquito is with a cannon Behold the cannon: a new ballot initiative — d "I cannot see the Republican Party touching this" said Torres who hosts a talk show on Univision the nation's television largest Spanish-languag- e network "Schwarzenegger's not going to be able to embrace it" For Torres this thing is a loser — destined for the political scrap heap Like father like son "I don't think the initiative passes I think you get more votes against it than for it Because people were really stunned with what happened with Proposition 187 It's been driven home that this is an extremely dangerous path to go down" Torres would prefer that the California debate be limited to driver licenses and that any broader attempt to solve the immigration problem come from the federal government not from any one state Sounds like federalism a good concept As a matter of fact more than 200 years ago a guy named James Madison actually put it in a document Ruben Navarrette's address is rnavarreile(adallasnewscom It's your LAST CHANCE to take advantage of the Mercedes Summer Sale Event p1V-- ri 7 I AMG MODELS IN STOCK! 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