Joe Miller is a political science professor at the University of Illinois, and a national coordinator of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), an organization that was founded in 1967 and, from its earliest days, portrayed U.S. troops as war criminals. The group’s consistent anti-U.S. position remains undiminished even in this era of terrorism. Indeed, immediately following the 9/11 attacks, VVAW issued the following statement: “[O]ur country has to address the reasons behind the violence that has now come to our shores. The seeds of this anger and hatred were sown over many years. . . . As long as U.S. foreign policy continues to be based on corporate exploitation and military domination, we will continue to make more enemies.”

When the U.S. deposed Saddam Hussein in 2003, Miller and his fellow coordinators accused the Bush administration of systematic deception: “The connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda still does not exist. The weapons of mass destruction still haven’t been found even though U.S. forces have access to the entire region through conquest. The imminent danger posed by nuclear weapons was fabricated. The complications of this tragic prefabrication are being played out with British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a major villain in his country.”

In the Illinois Disciples Foundation’s February, 2004 newsletter The Voice, Miller wrote, “Just like Vietnam, the troops on the ground know exactly who the ‘enemy’ is: it is the warhawks, or more properly, the ‘chickenhawks’ in the Bush administration who lied us into this war and continue to lie day after day, as more troops and civilians fall victim to the Neo-Conservative vision of a New American Empire. Our troops did not enter military service to become servants to empire.”

VVAW’s leftwing politics makes it far more favorably disposed to the military and foreign policy decisions of Democratic, rather than Republican administrations. For example, when President Bill Clinton and NATO began bombing Belgrade and Kosovo, Miller and his fellow coordinators issued a statement vehemently supporting the action, and blasting Republicans for not joining them in doing so. “Why is it that the Republicans, who have supported every military adventure in the last century, are now opposed to any effective attack on Milosevic? There is no oil in Kosovo. The lives of women and children have never really been a concern to the rich. The refugees are Muslims, though of white European descent. And the rich ruling class is split. Many of them support Milosevic as a local ‘strong man,’ much as their kind supported Hitler, Mussolini, Marcos, and Pinochet.”