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Editorial: Crime and Punishment

By VVAW

Thinking about the plight of Jews during the Second World War, one inevitably asks, "how could it have happened?" "Why didn't anyone do anything?"

Observing the plight of political refugees from El Salvador one gets an inkling. The death squads in El Salvador are as ruthless and bold as any predator in Nazi Germany. Killing, torturing and kidnapping are their stock in trade. Their victims' crimes range from teaching "The Sermon on the Mount" (these anti-communist goons claim that teaching anyone that "the meek shall inherit the earth" is socialist) to organizing trade unions. They work with impunity, able to kill and rape American nuns, assassinate American AID workers, and murder a Catholic bishop during mass. Eighteen thousand people a year are killed by these authoritarian friends of the Reagan Administration, with Congress voting them more money every year.

Not all Americans are silent or inactive, Jack Elder among them. Jack, a member of VVAW served in Vietnam with the Special Forces, seeing firsthand the agony visited on hapless peasants in that country. Returning home he worked in the Peace Corps and with a variety of social agencies trying to rescue people from war and suffering. His arrest and coming trial by the U.S. government raises questions for all of us. Most of us would like to believe we would shelter and hide Jews from the Gestapo, had that choice come to us; Jack did that for the victims marked by Salvadoran hit men. His actions and selflessness, and that of his family speak for themselves. Our own actions will have to speak still for the rest of us. It is imperative that we support the people on trial for aiding refugees, and that we bring every possible pressure to stop our government from supporting the fascists in El Salvador. It's a moral question and it has both a precedent and an answer.

Even though Dave's case is still being appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, the judge ordered him to surrender to federal Marshalls. Curry made no attempt to leave the country, did not violate parole or break any laws.

Dave's crime is that he cared about Vietnam vets. That's why the police went after him in the first place. That's how they trapped him and then convicted him. With Dave's experience in the military, he should have known better. Rather than help others he should have tried to help himself.

Remember good old Sergeant Major Woolridge. He ran the PX Clubs in Vietnam. He made millions on the black market, was made the first SGT MAJOR of the Army and convicted of misappropriation of funds. For cheating GI's he was sentenced to do social work with Boy Scouts. (Hope they didn't trust him with the Jamboree funds). Of course we remember Nixon for subverting the Constitution: he has to suffer on a government pension and peddle his memoirs for millions.

Curry's case is not over yet. There is still plenty to do—please help!