Yeah, what you say about Iraq makes sense, but I don’t remember mentions of extreme violence against specifically young protesters like we’re seeing with the university encampments. I was also very young at the time, so I was definitely being sheltered from a lot of it.
That’s why the comparisons to Vietnam sticks out more in my head, because that’s probably the only other time historically I have been taught that there has been pointed aggression toward the younger generation about anti-war protesting.
But my perception may also be skewed because it is my peer group that is being targeted. Quite a few of my friends may or will have police records because they were at pro-Palestine protests and were unlucky enough to get caught by the police, and we still don’t know how it’ll impact them in the future.