'America isn't bad guy'

American Legion National Commander Tom Bock has a problem with Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's anti-war protests and believes they will undermine the morale of U.S. troops, in particular Bock's own son.

"He's out there putting his life on the line every day," Bock said Wednesday about his son, Adam Bock, a helicopter pilot who served with the Army in Iraq and who is getting ready for deployment to Afghanistan.

Support of the troops is at the top of the agenda for the American Legion's 88th annual national convention, to be held next week at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. It's expected that as many as 15,000 legionnaires and their families will attend.

Bock, who lives in Colorado, traveled 1,900 miles from Legion headquarters in Indianapolis to Utah as part of a fund-raiser for scholarships that benefit children of fallen military members.

Bock had heard that Anderson plans to headline an anti-war protest on Wednesday, the same day President Bush is scheduled to arrive in Utah. Anderson also has invited anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who lost a son in the Iraq war, to join him.

Bush is planning to speak to veterans at the convention either Wednesday or Thursday of next week and on Wednesday will overnight in Utah for the first time since becoming president. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are also scheduled to speak at the convention.

Local Legion officials have invited several political figures from both parties at the state and national levels to speak at or attend the convention, but Anderson was not on the list. Bock is scheduled to meet privately with Anderson this morning.

"He has his rights or freedoms, and we have ours," Bock said. "I'm not going there to change his mind — he's an adult and he can form his own opinions."

Calls to Anderson's office for comment Wednesday were not returned. The mayor has declined to speak with the Deseret Morning News for nearly two months.

Bock's fear is that U.S. military members will be maligned in the same manner as Vietnam-era soldiers, who were spit upon, shamed and called "baby killers" when they returned home.

One result of protests and what Bock said is the media's emphasis on the negative aspects of U.S. occupation in Iraq is this year's increase by about 196,000 in the Legion's membership of about 2.7 million. About half of the new members are Vietnam veterans who don't want to see today's generation of veterans mistreated.

Bock said there is no separating the warrior from the war.