This is kinda scary IMO.

The American Legion, which has 2.7 million members, has declared war on antiwar protestors, and the media could be next. Speaking at its national convention in Honolulu, the group's national commander called for an end to all “public protests” and “media events” against the war, constitutional protections be damned.

"The American Legion will stand against anyone and any group that would demoralize our troops, or worse, endanger their lives by encouraging terrorists to continue their cowardly attacks against freedom-loving peoples," Thomas Cadmus, national commander, told delegates at the group's national convention in Honolulu.

The delegates voted to use whatever means necessary to "ensure the united backing of the American people to support our troops and the global war on terrorism."

Cadmus added: "It would be tragic if the freedoms our veterans fought so valiantly to protect would be used against their successors today as they battle terrorists bent on our destruction.”

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001020671

Wait... I thought they all died from Legionaire's disease! ;)

*whistles appropriate rumble tunes from West Side Story*

Your link to the article's text is different than what you posted.

NEW YORK The American Legion, which has 2.7 million members, has declared war on antiwar protestors, and the media could be next. Speaking at its national convention in Honolulu, the group's national commander called for an end to all “public protests” and “media events” against the war, even though they are protected by the Bill of Rights.

"The American Legion will stand against anyone and any group that would demoralize our troops, or worse, endanger their lives by encouraging terrorists to continue their cowardly attacks against freedom-loving peoples," Thomas Cadmus, national commander, told delegates at the group's national convention in Honolulu.

The delegates voted to use whatever means necessary to "ensure the united backing of the American people to support our troops and the global war on terrorism."

In his speech, Cadmus declared: "It would be tragic if the freedoms our veterans fought so valiantly to protect would be used against their successors today as they battle terrorists bent on our destruction.”


Did you edit that or did they in the hour's difference time?

Makes me glad for the Second Amendment.

BTW, that wasn't the only change in the text. Looks like they edited it themselves, which I have seen before.

Wow...I hadn't even heard of the American Legion, even though they apparently make up close to 1% of the US population. (2.7 million members? Is that really true?)

Really?

They have their own park in the middle of my town.

I think it is larger than VFW.

http://www.legion.org/?section=pub_relations&subsection=pr_listreleases&content=pr_press_release&id=303

That appears to be the text of the press release without the editor's whimsical editorializing.

Unbiased unedited text:
HONOLULU, August 23, 2005 - Delegates to the nation’s largest wartime veterans organization meeting here in national convention today vowed to use whatever means necessary to ensure the united support of the American people for our troops and the global war on terrorism.

“Warriors, above all other people, pray for peace, for they must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war,” said Thomas P. Cadmus, national commander of The American Legion referring to Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s quote. “We had hoped that the lessons learned from the Vietnam War would be clear to our fellow citizens: public protests against the war here at home while our young men and women are in harm’s way on the other side of the globe only provide aid and comfort to our enemies. We understand that the terrorists they are engaging there would slit the throats of every American, adult and child, if they could.”

The resolution passed unanimously by 4,000 delegates to the annual event states: “The American Legion fully supports the President of the United States, the United States Congress and the men, women, and leadership of our armed forces as they are engaged in the global war on terrorism.”

“For many of us, the visions of Jane Fonda glibly spouting anti-American messages with the North Vietnamese and protestors denouncing our own forces four decades ago is forever etched in our memories,” Cadmus said. “We must never let that happen again. I assure you, The American Legion will stand against anyone and any group that would demoralize our troops, or worse, endanger their lives by encouraging terrorists to continue their cowardly attacks against freedom loving peoples.”

The measure recognizes that the global war on terrorism is as deadly as any war
in which the United States has been previously engaged and that the President and Congress did authorize military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

“No one respects the right to protest more than one who has fought for it, but we hope that Americans will present their views in correspondence to their elected officials rather than by public media events guaranteed to be picked up and used as tools of encouragement by our enemies,“ Cadmus said. “It would be tragic if the freedoms our veterans fought so valiantly to protect would be used against their successors today as they battle terrorists bent on our destruction.

“Let’s not repeat the mistakes of our past,” he added. ”I urge all Americans to rally around our armed forces and remember our fellow Americans who were viciously murdered on Sept. 11, 2001. We must commit ourselves to stand united together to defeat terrorism once and forever.”

And Panamah is correct, Legionnaires Disease gets its name from Legion members who all contracted the previously unknown disease at a Legionnaires convention.

yeah they changed it. Thats the exact text from the website that i posted yesterday afternoon