Nearly 50 U.S. military veterans at an anti-NATO rally in Chicago threw their service medals into the street on Sunday, an action they said symbolized their rejection of the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Veterans symbolically discard service medals at anti-NATO rally – Nearly 50 U.S. military veterans at an anti-NATO rally in Chicago threw their service medals into the street on Sunday, an action they said symbolized their rejection of the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

LaPorte, a 28-year-old mechanical engineer from Milwaukee, said he enlisted in the Army at 19 because he felt there were few other options. At the time, he could not afford to stay in college. „I witnessed civilian casualties and civilians being arrested in what I consider an illegal occupation of a sovereign nation,“ LaPorte said.

War vets plan to confront NATO generals, return war medals.
The protesters claim the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are based on lies and failed policies. They say the wars have cost hundreds of thousands of lives and consumed trillions of dollars which, they say, could have been spent on schools, clinics and social programs at home.