It must be wonderful to see the world so clearly in black and white, I just can't seem to manage it on issues like U.S. Military intervention which results in the death of many innocents (not to mention long-term ecological damage). Somehow the fact that "they" killed a few thousand of our innocents just doesn't strike me as a legitimate justification for "our" killing a few thousand (likely more) of "their" innocents (not to mention committing war crimes in the treatment of captured members of enemy forces). If someone does something evil to me, does that give me a right to perpetrate evil against innocent bystanders?

John Walker, and for that matter Jane Fonda, reached their decisions against a moral background that was and is considerably more complicated than most of these "hang-him-high" postings seem willing to acknowledge.

I remember opposing the Viet Nam War. I believed then, and I believe now, that our involvement in Viet Nam was wrong whether measured against a realpolitik scale or a moral scale. The soldiers who fought the war for our country were not responsible for the war and it was certainly wrong to blame them. The people who gave the orders, however, were and are criminals in my book.

I do not recall Jane Fonda ever criticizing the soldiers themselves. Her critique was of the war, and she called for draft resistance and for soldiers to refuse to follow orders. I understand why this may be viewed as treason. In my opinion, however, she was morally correct and exhibited a great deal of personal courage by putting her career on the line, and exposing herself to such lasting hatred.

I have always enjoyed her acting, and regret that she has not made a film in many years. I was offended, however, when I saw her in her role as Mrs. Ted Turner caricaturing Native Americans by cheering on the Atlanta Braves through the vehicle of the mass chant and Tomahawk chop. Now that looked like racism to me. Its racism, however, was more than equalled by the racism that was part of what underlay our misguided Viet Nam War. My jury is still out on whether our current Afghanistan efforts reflect a similarly racist attitude that places very little value upon Afghan lives.