Editorial

By VVAW

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General Ford, Nixon's replacement has come out for "leniency" for what he calls "draft dodgers" and "deserters." In a speech given before the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Ford said: "I foresee their earned re-entry into a new atmosphere of hope, hard work, and mutual trust... As I reject amnesty, I reject revenge."

For Nixon, however, there will be total, unconditional pardon. His crimes are forgiven, he is protected from prosecution no matter how many more of his criminal acts may be uncovered in the future. Nixon has, in the words of the new president, "suffered enough." Perhaps the $850,000 requested for transition expenses, and the $2 million projected fee for Nixon's "true" story of Watergate will help him suffer less. Nixon is an out-and-out criminal; he should be dealt with as a criminal, not freed from punishment. Meanwhile, it is clear that war resisters--who are not criminals, will be soundly punished before Ford's "leniency" takes command.

No where was there mention of the 500,000+ less-than-honorable discharges handed out during the Vietnam era. No mention, either, of the hundreds of thousands of people now living underground in this country as a result of having gone AWOL or refusing to register for the draft. No mention of clearing records of those resisters who served prison terms. And, most important, no mention of the central issue of the amnesty campaign: that, because of the imperialist nature of the Vietnam War, the resisters were right.

The anti-imperialist amnesty movement is growing; the government had to do something. Ford, riding on the wave of temporary euphoria which followed Nixon's slinking away from the White House, went just as far as he though was necessary to undercut the peoples' movement for amnesty. Concentrating on the well-publicized exiles, Ford completely separated them from the hundreds of thousands of poor, third world, and working class vets and resisters to whom amnesty must be granted. With great political shrewdness, Ford chose an audience which would trumpet the most reactionary position on amnesty and thus make the Ford position seem that much more progressive.

Ford has now made public the government tactic which we of VVAW/WSO predicted a year ago. He will try to divide the amnesty movement by co-opting those segments of the movement who refuse to recognize that the real problem is imperialism. For those of us who have been building the anti-imperialist amnesty movement, our task and slogans remain the same:

SINGLE-TYPE DISCHARGE FOR ALL VETS
UNIVERSAL AND UNCONDITIONAL AMNESTY FOR ALL WAR RESISTERS

2. An Open Letter >>