http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-debate15.htmlAfter a wrenching debate that reopened 37-year-old wounds, Chicago on Wednesday became the nation's largest city to demand an "orderly and rapid withdrawal" of U.S. troops from Iraq.
The 29-to-9 vote -- interrupted by the collapse of Ald. Burton F. Natarus (42nd) -- followed a two-hour argument that pitted aldermen who have opposed the war from the start and colleagues who have converted to that position as the death toll mounts against veterans concerned about undermining and demoralizing U.S. troops in Iraq.
The opposition was led by Ald. James Balcer (11th), a decorated Vietnam War veteran who has never gotten over the hurt he suffered at the hands of a nation that treated its soldiers in that unpopular war as if they were the enemy.
"When I served in Vietnam, the protests were very demoralizing to myself and to others in my platoon. I still carry those scars today. And I swore that I would never be part of anything that would hurt our troops," said Balcer.
Ald. James Balcer can bite me. He would have been perfectly happy to see me and untold others get drafted in 1973 to only get sent to Vietnam and come home in a box fighting to enrich Amoco and Dow Chemical. Screw him.