Democratic Underground today publishes one man's autobiographical account of the conflict he faced as a drafted soldier in the days of Vietnam who was opposed to that war.

Titled Of Empire, War, Propaganda, and Courage, author Punpirate says:

"Intelligent people everywhere, therefore, have both the right and the obligation to express doubt when doubt arises. We have the right to demand honest answers from government (yes, I know, I know the futility of that exercise with the Bush administration). Had more of us, and more of our legislators, expressed doubt about the evidence regarding the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, we might have prevented millions of unnecessary deaths and disabilities, American and Vietnamese alike, might have resolved a difficult problem with diplomacy instead of militancy, and might have engendered in many parts of the world a respect for the United States, instead of affirming fear and suspicion of our country. "

"Today, that same fear and suspicion of us is rising in the Arab and Islamic world because an administration purportedly representing the people of the United States has consciously chosen militancy over diplomacy and common sense. This current administration has chosen to do so, without adequately informing the American public of all the consequences, because of a very narrow view held by the most extreme and conservative elements of our society about America's determinist role as an empire. "