Dermot Cole yesterday published a news piece concerning a resolution about the Vietnam war submitted by Sen. Dan Sullivan. This resolution demanded that the president should “formally acknowledge the widespread mistreatment of many veterans.” However, Sen. Sullivan’s resolution is based on the assertion that this war was divisive because of “certain biased and shameful attacks from some in the media, academia, politicians and many others.”
While there are many factors that made the Vietnam War divisive, there is little consensus among historians to support this claim in Sullivan’s resolution. Moreover, Sullivan said the resolution is needed because the U.S. government has failed to apologized to Vietnam veterans. This claim simply ignores decades of history during which the U.S. government has apologized and thanked Vietnam veterans for their service, including comments and a proclamation by Barack Obama in 2012, a proclamation by Donald Trump in 2017, and a proclamation by President Joe Biden in 2022.
In fact, there have been 56 proclamations from states honoring the Vietnam war veterans. This article by Dermot Cole underscored the apparent willingness of Sen. Sullivan to ignore or misconstrue the historical record for political reasons. We should expect more from Sen. Sullivan.
— Brad Owens
Anchorage
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