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Phoney VVAW and Flag Burning: Open Letter to the Media

By Pete Zastrow

To Whom It May Concern:

On the 26th of October a number of TV and radio stations as well as newspapers carried, in various forms, a story of Vietnam veterans in Seattle burning 1000 paper flags to protest the passage of the Congressional Bill outlawing flag-burning. Some media coverage reported that the flag burners identified themselves as the organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

As President of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Inc, I can tell you that we have no chapter of our organization in Seattle and that any group using our name in that location is lying.

Vietnam Veterans Against the War has spent 22 years building a reputation based on fighting for the rights of veterans and against a repetition of U.S. military ventures like the Vietnam War. Some of our members find flag-burning seriously offensive, though our organization has always stood for the first amendment rights which would allow any form of protest no matter how infantile or silly. Among the other things, we fought in Vietnam for the rights of protest—and to be silly if that was the form of protest we wished to practice.

We trust you will do whatever possible to correct eh erroneous information you helped to publicize. I realize that to you the problem is trivial, but we must spend considerable time and effort to try to correct the error.

Sincerely,
Peter H. Zastrow
Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Inc