it was a success? it was a great success, a great day, it made you feel proud to be a st. louisan. was there any downside of what you did in st. louis, any sort of hidden pitfalls or anything to worry about, any negative consequences that might be cautionary for any other cities considering doing this? from the st. louis perspective on such a short notice, we were concerned whether there would be a crowd. there was a crowd, 100,000 people, 20,000 participants, 83 floats, a great success. sir, i know that you yourself are a viet nam veteran, in terms much your experience as a veteran and now your experience as a county executive, having seen what st. louis did, do you think there are lessons from how people who fought in viet nam were received upon coming home? are there lessons from that era that apply to us considering this question at the enof the iraq war now? i think the lesson is
you as a veteran? i think it did make a great difference. quite frankly, the iraq war we had in st. louis, i felt just as much a part of that as those that participated in new york in 1985. i felt vindicated. i felt welcomed. i waved my hand. i just felt good about it. a lot of veterans groups, even korean veterans groups, i watched the parade live streaming from the nbc affiliate there. and one of the things i noticed that i didn t expect was to see a lot of groups of older veterans, veterans of previous conflicts who were there alongside the iraq vets being recognized the same thing. it was striking to see. there s no question about it. a lot of world war ii vets were there, korean vets were there. every time i saw one of the individuals, i made it my business to make sure i shook their hand and thanked them for their service. sir, one last question for you. i realize you re the county executive of st. louis. and you don t have jurisdiction in new york city. but from your per
be late, they were still going to do it. would that make a difference to you as a veteran? i think it did make a great difference. quite frankly, the iraq war we had in st. louis, i felt just as much a part of that as those that participated in new york in 1985. i felt vindicated. i felt welcomed. i waved my hand. i just felt good about it. a lot of veterans groups, even korean veterans groups, i watched the parade live streaming from the nbc affiliate there. and one of the things i noticed that i didn t expect was to see a lot of groups of older veterans, veterans of previous conflicts who were there alongside the iraq vets being recognized the same thing. it was striking to see. there s no question about it. a lot of world war ii vets were there, korean vets were there. every time i saw one of the individuals, i made it my business to make sure i shook their hand and thanked them for their service. sir, one last question for
concerned citizens, do you think it was a success? it was a great success, a great day, it made you feel proud to be a st. louisan. was there any downside of what you did in st. louis, any sort of hidden pitfalls or anything to worry about, any negative consequences that might be cautionary for any other cities considering doing this? from the st. louis perspective on such a short notice, we were concerned whether there would be a crowd. there was a crowd, 100,000 people, 20,000 participants, 83 floats, a great success. sir, i know that you yourself are a viet nam veteran, in terms much your experience as a veteran and now your experience as a county executive, having seen what st. louis did, do you think there are lessons from how people who fought in viet nam were received upon coming home? are there lessons from that era that apply to us considering
think about new york city s decision to essentially take the pentagon advice, the pentagon s advice, not the veterans groups, but the pentagon s advice that they should wait and not do a parade now for the iraq war even though the iraq war ended? i have a great respect for our government and for the pentagon. but i also have a great respect for our veterans. it is for our veterans. it s the right thing to do. and the time to do it is now. st. louis county executive charlie dooly, veteran of the vietnam war, thank you for your time tonight, sir. i ve been looking forward to the chance to talk to you about this. i m grateful for it. thanks for having me, rachael. thanks. still ahead on the last word there is a draw dropping investigation about guns, guns being sold with no background checks at all and it s apparently perfectly legal. essential viewing. and here florists, indicatorers, djs, your stimulus has arrived.