a manufactured response to how the draftees who raped and murdered their way through Vietnam were vilified at rallies

I was at those rallies, and I saw people punched and spit on. Those people were demonstrating against the war. I was one.

The story of returning draftees being given a bad reception is projection. Nobody blamed the poor teenagers who got rounded up and sent over. It was well known that it was the fault of the top politicians and the generals. But the only thuggish behavior I ever saw was from the counter-demonstrators who were bused in to harass demonstrators, as if billy clubs, tear gas and false arrest weren’t harassment enough.