>> Not to open a hornet's nest, but my comrades and I were certain
>> that cowardice was at the root of the protester's actions.
I think the most likely commonality of most protesters was just an emotional, non-rational desire for non-conformity; the same kind of kids who today are piercing and painting everything and keeping Anne Rice in business. I'm sure there were some who were motivated by cowardice, and I know at least one counterexample to both: my mother, one of the most courageous people I have ever known, who not only protested the war but did so while living on an Air Force base while my father was off fighting it. I think she even made Nixon's enemies list.
Even at the time, without hindsight, some arguments against the war were quite rational. Particularly the argument that if it were indeed a just war, why the limits? Why the secrecy? Why the deception of the public? Any time the government does something covertly, it should be questioned vigorously. I was too young to fight, but I knew many people on both sides who were motivated by honest beliefs, and many on both sides who were motivated by cowardice or ignorance. I don't think either was the "root" of their cause.
(For the sake of evaluating my historical point of view and that of others who may enter this thread, I was born in 1963.)
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC