Cleopatra,
I don't know why I'm bothering to reply to you because you have this very annoying habit of not honouring any idea that doesn't fit your insanely, over-intellectualized, narrow point of view.
My sister is no dummy. She knows of what she speaks. In terms of what literary material is available where, maybe it cuts both ways, I don't know. We also don't know what the next 4 years of George W. Bush in power will bring. Hopefully he will mellow out. Somehow I don't think so.
I happen to have met a number of former draft dodgers over the years. Many of them became professionals, (teachers, professors, engineers, etc. ) making Ontario, Canada their home. In fact in the late 60's and 70's I believe the brain drain was Americans coming in this direction - north. Although a hard decision in many cases, these men who really valued life and their own lives in particular (and why not??) decided life as an expatriot in a foreign land was preferable to being maimed, dead or insane.
On the other hand, I've also met a few men who actually fought in Vietnam. Each stated that the war experience, maybe wars in general but the Vietnam war in particular, was completely beyond the human imagination of any one who had not fought in that war.
The degree of real fear and horror that they and their fellows were subjected to, especially in the literal jungle of Vietnam, at night, where the nights were blacker than black, and consisted of endless, fear-drenched and disorienting circumstances with an invisible but ever-present, ruthless, cunning enemy who were capable of materializing in swarms of multiples, out of impossible to see spider holes in the black darkness in a fraction of a second, of this you have no idea...
A former acquaintance, an educated and highly intelligent man, was in charge of a whole squadron of troops during his tour of duty in Vietnam. He said while in the jungle he didn't sleep for a year, literally. One of his biggest challenges was not losing his mind. Years later he was proud to say that not one of the men under his charge for that year was killed or seriously injured. Immediately following his Vietnam experience, he was bitter and sickened by his Country's policies - and decided to immigrate to Canada.
To kill a man or a young boy at gun point is a terrible thing, is an understatement, even when done in self defence. The other Vietnam Vet I met about 8 years ago. He was a Canadian when he enlisted and still is. He joined the Navy specifically to go to Vietnam, and went to the Far East working on a submarine. He was assigned the duty of getting supplies and men into and out of Vietnam during the height of the war.
After his stint in the military, he became a middle level Canadian government officer. Years later, after 3 broken marriages and on-again, off-again, alcoholism, he had to face up to the fact that his mind had been shattered, partially due to the stress of his decades ago military experience and those horrible, horrible couple of years in which he had to venture into the jungles of Vietnam under cover of night. He said one of the worst memories was that he killed a 12 year old Vietnamese kid in the jungle at point blank range. It was literally a matter of his own life or the kid's. He happened to be the quicker shot. The kid was shot in the face. The image still haunts him. After decades of nightmares and flashbacks, he is now on permanent disability. He has a network of Vietnam vet buddies he keeps in touch with because they are the only ones who understand. Those who haven't served, do not understand. He says, it's the truth. Nobody else is capable of understanding.
My own father served in WWII. He volunteered for the war as a mere boy of 17. He may have lied about his age. He was eager to defend his country and become a real man. (I am the product of his 2nd marriage). My father experienced numerous close friends being blown to bits right by his side not more than a few feet away on many occasions, while he somehow miraculously escaped serious physical injury himself. He was lucky physically but his mind was scarred. To the day he died (and he died an early death by modern standards - I would put as one of the causes of his early demise being the fact that his "nerves were shot" - a hidden casuality of war), he was unable to eat or even tolerate looking at certain foods because they reminded him of human remains. He experienced depression, moodiness, fits of rage and panic.
These facts are part of the reality of war. The reason why I cite the above examples of the human toll and consequences of war
is that it's all very well and fine for you to be an academic or an armchair hawk, preaching the righteousness of the "liberation" of a land of people on the other side of the globe by the use of weapons of destruction, so long as somebody else is doing the fighting, but unless you enlist for active service yourself, you are a hypocrite. Those who have fought wars know that war is extremely serious business, and should never, ever, be undertaken unless it is a measure of last resort.
Then I will be needing something stronger than beer.... 
...its like this in politics everywhere... ...they are all liars... ...elect the one who lies the least...
and have nots
...
